Readings and Thoughts on Creative Nonfiction

Author: Lynn Z. Bloom

Bloom writes a segmented essay that combines pieces of the story of how her family tried to hide the fact that she had a twin sister with the ethics of writing creative nonfiction. When it comes to her family, Bloom describes how her mother went so far as to have information omitted from her birth certificate so Bloom would have confirmation that she had a twin sister who died at birth. Bloom also writes about how around the time of her birth, her father, a man of science, refused medical help and became depressed. Additionally, her parents disowned her for a while when she married a Jewish man, because they were German and did not want her to marry a Jewish man. Also, her parents named her seven-year younger sister after her dead twin, but never explain why. In terms of ethical writing, Bloom stresses the importance of writing the truth, and not censoring, because that would be unfair to both the writer and the readers.

Below are a few select quotes from the piece, along with some of my thoughts regarding them.

Their major concern is to tell the truth, and in the process to avoid lawsuits-a matter of prudence and jurisprudence, but not strictly an ethical issue.

This is an interesting issue, and is definitely a major concern for nonfiction writers. However, it seems like sometimes it may be hard to balance the truth with avoiding lawsuits, since sometimes stories have subjective aspects.

Robin Hemley, in Turning Life into Fiction, says that for writers of nonfiction, "the only absolute defense [...] is that the facts stated must be provably true."

This makes sense, and is also the way most journalists work.

Lee Gutking, founding editor of Creative Nonfiction, regards name changes-whether to protect the innocent or the guilty-as the slippery slope to fiction.

I'm not sure I agree with Lee Gutking. I understand the slippery slope idea but sometimes it may be necessary to change names.

In its presentation of truth, creative nonfiction-like an artist's rendering of any kind of person, event, or place, in any medium-doesn't have to be fair, just faithful to the vision, understanding of "the implacable I."

I agree with this. If the writer is true to herself, then it is a version of the truth.

No matter what their subjects think, creative nonfiction writers defending the integrity of their work should not, I contend, expose their material either to censorship or to consensus.

I also agree with this statement, because otherwise it changes the story too much, and it no longer is necessarily the author's story-it's the story of the people who censored it.

If they wish to spare my feelings as a child, why not come clean when I'm an adult and pregnant with children of my own? If they remain devastated by the death of Linda Kay, why do they give their next daughter a memento mori incarnate, the same name?

I like how Bloom uses rhetorical questions. These are also major concerns that I'm sure she wishes she found out the answers to.

"If you marry him"-they proceed to prove their claim-"we will have nothing to do with you, or your husband, or any children you might have." If they could efface their names from my birth certificate they would do so.

This is a very strong statement. And the sentence that comes after her parents' claim to disown her proves their point and is also quite sad.

Only Burke and I are exempt from his corrosive cynicism.

I like this sentence because it plays upon the fact that her father was a chemist.

Readers expect the writer to tell the truth. Writers, in turn, trust their readers to understand and respect that truth, and the larger Truths their work implies, even though readers may not share its values.

I like this cycle and I think it is true.

If I have told the story well and true, the story that I alone have lived to tell, readers will understand it in their own ways and will enrich their understanding of the world we share.

This makes sense, since oftentimes the reader can relate a story to his or her own life, and use that story to make sense of his or her place in the world.