Does it matter if Joseph Mitchell embellished his journalism?

He is long known to have used composite characters and a new biography will reveal more embellishments – but perhaps that’s the magic of his workOver the weekend, the feathers of American literary journalists ruffled lightly in the breeze of a review that appeared in the New York Review of Books. The review, written by longtime New Yorker staff writer Janet Malcolm, was of an upcoming biography of another New Yorker staff writer, Joseph Mitchell, due to be published in the United States on 28 April. Malcolm’s review can be read as a pre-emptive defence of Mitchell’s legacy as one of the giants of American literary journalism. The biographer in question, Thomas Kunkel, has apparently found more evidence of what was already somewhat known: that Mitchell embellished his nonfiction, often condensing characters and facts to smooth out his stories. In one already well-known example, a long piece called Old Mr Flood condenses several men’s stories into the titular Mr Flood. Mitchell admitted this openly in a preface to the book later published under that name.He has mixed up nonfiction with fiction. He has made an unwholesome, almost toxic brew out of the two genres. It is too bad he is dead and can’t be pilloried. Or perhaps it is all right that he is dead, because he is suffering the torments of hell for his sins against the spirit of fact. And so on.Every writer of nonfiction who has struggled with the ditch and the bushes knows what Mitchell is talking about, but few of us... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #roman empire

Other news stories related to: "Does it matter if Joseph Mitchell embellished his journalism?"


Humphreys to move to Michael Joseph

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 09/11/2011 - 12:34 Michael Joseph has appointed Sam Humphreys to the role of publisher, in a move that will see Humphreys depart the post of publisher at Serpent's Tail just months after taking it up in March. Humphreys will report to MJ... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #acquiring fiction #louise moore #michael joseph #humphreys depart


E-book charts published in Wall Street Journal

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 31/10/2011 - 08:20 The first official sales charts including ebook sales data have been published in the Wall Street Journal this weekend, with Nielsen BookScan now supplying ebook sales reports to the US paper. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #nielsen bookscan


Joey Barton memoir to Michael Joseph

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 07/10/2011 - 11:09 Michael Joseph has acquired a memoir by controversial footballer and Queen's Park Rangers captain Joey Barton. Commissioning editor Daniel Bunyard bought world rights from David Riding at MBA Literary agents on behalf of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #david riding #michael joseph #untitled memoir


Sage buys Learning Matters

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 02/08/2011 - 15:11 Academic and professional publisher Sage has bought Learning Matters, the independent education publisher founded in 1999. The sale, for an undisclosed sum, was announced jointly by Learning Matters founder and managing... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #learning matters #ziyad marar #announced jointly


Anjali Joseph scoops Desmond Elliott Prize

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 24/06/2011 - 08:39 Anjali Joseph has won the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for her "faultlessly written" novel Saraswati Park. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Joseph, Ziegler, Henderson, win at Society of Author awards

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 15/06/2011 - 08:21 Twenty-one writers shared £76,000 of prize money at the Authors' Awards last night presented by Joanna Trollope. Among them Anjali Joseph won the £10,000 Betty Trask prize for Saraswati Park (Fourth Estate). As previously... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #orange prize #previously announced #joanna trollope #prize money #author awards


Beauman, Kelman and Joseph make Desmond Elliott shortlist

Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Wed, 25/05/2011 - 09:20 Two titles picked for BBC2’s "Culture Show" special on debut novelists, broadcast in March, have made it to the shortlist for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2011. Ned Beauman’s Boxer Beetle (Sceptre), also shortlisted for the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #book award #debut novelists #culture show


Joseph and Leith on Wodehouse shortlist

Publication Date: Wed, 13/04/2011 - 08:47 ?Debut novelists Manu Joseph and Sam Leith have been shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. The prize, now in its 12th year, celebrates the novel of the last 12 months that has best captured the comic spirit of P G Wodehouse, and was... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #ian mcewan #wodehouse shortlist #sam leith


Levy, Mitchell on Walter Scott shortlist

Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 11:14 Six titles spanning imperial Japan to 19th-century Jamaica have been shortlisted for the second Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction, worth £25,000. Andrea Levy's The Long Song (Headline Review) and Tom McCarthy's C (Jonathan Cape) both shortlisted... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #jonathan cape #tom mccarthy #historical fiction #andrea levy


Long Form Journalism Enters the Digital Market

As most publishers are scrambling to compact content (call it the Twitter effect), one company is bringing lengthy journalistic stories to digital devices. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #digital devices #digital market


Quartet to launch investigative journalism imprint

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 21/02/2011 - 15:59 Quartet Books is launching a new imprint by veteran American broadcast journalist Charles Glass. The imprint, called Charles Glass Books, will focus on investigative journalism, war, world politics and corporate and political... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #world politics #investigative journalism


Michael Joseph acquires Tom Daley memoir

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 18/02/2011 - 08:10 Michael Joseph has acquired world all language rights to an illustrated memoir by 16-year-old Olympic and Commonwealth diver Tom Daley. Commissioning editor Daniel Bunyard made the deal with Jonathan Harris of Luxton... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #luxton harris #jonathan harris #illustrated memoir #language rights #acquired world


The Heart of the Matter

As memories fade of the strong 2010 holiday season that finished up a flat year, the bookstore scene across the Midwest continues to shift, with stores opening and closing. According to the Midwest Booksellers Association, whose membership is located in nine states, 39 MBA stores closed between... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #stores opening #flat year


Michael Joseph acquires Stacey Solomon

Written By: Charlotte Williams Michael Joseph has acquired rights in "X Factor" finalist and "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" queen Stacey Solomon's autobiography. Katy Follain, Michael Joseph non-fiction publisher bought British Commonwealth including Canada, serial, audio and ebook... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #ebook rights #katy follain #acquired rights


Steve Jobs' health is not a private matter

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Sadly, I must reaffirm my position stated during Apple CEO Steve Jobs' last medical leave, in January 2009: His health situation isn't a private matter, and, frankly, it's even less so now. The seeming suddenness of Jobs' more recent medical leave, which this time is... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2011-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #copyright betanews #private life #exchange commission #widely considered


Egypt's telecommunications blackout crushes citizen journalism

By Tim Conneally, Betanews Responding to widespread civil unrest, the government of Egypt on Thursday evening ordered all private network operators to shut down their services, both wired and wireless.At around 12:30am local time, Egypt's outbound connections to the Internet hit a brick wall,... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2011-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #copyright betanews #press briefing #social networking