Literature and Journalism: Inspirations, Intersections, and Inventions from Ben Franklin to Stephen Colbert

248 Pages·2013·1.855 MB·English

by  Mark Canada (eds.)

Literature and Journalism
Also by Mark Canada
Literature and Journalism in Antebellum America (2011)
Literature and Journalism
Inspirations, Intersections, and Inventions
from Ben Franklin to Stephen Colbert
Edited by Mark Canada
literature and journalism
Copyright © Mark Canada, 2013.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-30062-1
All rights reserved.
Figure I.1, The York Family at Home by Joseph H. Davis (1837) is reproduced by kind
permission of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Museum, The Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation. From the collection of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller; gift of the Museum of
Modern Art
First published in 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States— a
division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by
Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England,
company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has
companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United
Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-45319-1 ISBN 978-1-137-32930-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137329301
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Canada, Mark
Literature and journalism : inspirations, intersections, and inventions from Ben
Franklin to Stephen Colbert / Mark Canada, Editor.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Journalism and literature— United States— History. 2. Literature and society—
United States— History. 3. American literature— History and criticism. I. Canada, Mark,
editor of compilation.
PS121.L55 2013
810.9’39— dc23 2012040884
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Scribe Inc.
First edition: April 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: A Brief History of Literature and
Journalism in the United States 1
Mark Canada
1 Benjamin Franklin, Literary Journalism, and
Finding a National Subject 25
Carla Mulford
2 Walt Whitman’s Journalism:
The Foreground of Leaves of Grass 47
David S. Reynolds
3 “Not feeling very well . . . we turned our attention to poetry”:
Poetry; Washington, DC’s Hospital Newspapers;
and the Civil War 69
Elizabeth Lorang
4 The True, the False, and the “not exactly lying”:
Making Fakes and Telling Stories in the Age of the Real Thing 91
Andie Tucher
5 Elizabeth Jordan, “True Stories of the News,” and
Newspaper Fiction in Late- Nineteenth- Century Journalism 119
Karen Roggenkamp
6 Where the Masses Met the Classes: Nineteenth- and
Early- Twentieth- Century American Newspapers and
Their Significance to Literary Scholars 143
Charles Johanningsmeier
7 Fame and the Fate of Celebrity: The Trauma of the
Lionized Journalist–Literary Figure 169
Doug Underwood
vi Contents
8 Ernest Hemingway in Esquire: Contextualizing Arnold Gingrich’s
Posthumous Portrait(s) of Man and Artist, 1961– 73 187
John Fenstermaker
9 Stephen Colbert’s Harvest of Shame 209
Geoffrey Baym
Notes on Contributors 231
Index 235
Illustrations
I.1 The York Family at Home by Joseph H. Davis, 1837 7
I.2 Newsroom at the New York World, January 1890 10
2.1 Walt Whitman, 1819– 92, engraving by Samuel Hollyer 48
5.1 Advertisement for “True Stories of the News,” New York World,
January 15, 1891 123
5.2 Representative headline from “True Stories of the News,”
including Roman numeral “chapter number” and literary
reference, New York World, December 10, 1890 124
5.3 World reporter Elizabeth Jordan accompanies Mrs. Dora
Meyer on a ride through New York City, with the dome of
the new World building in the background, New York World,
December 19, 1890 132
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Acknowledgments
When I set out to put together a collection of essays on literature
and journalism in the United States, I set my sights high, approaching
many of the leading scholars in the field. Readers need only glance at
the list of contributors for this volume to see how fortunate I was. When
they turn to the essays themselves, readers will find fresh, revealing, and
intriguing studies of the long-l asting and ongoing relationship between
literature and journalism. What they won’t see is the remarkable level
of professionalism these scholars showed me in our interactions. I can’t
imagine many—o r even any—e ditors have had the good fortune of work-
ing with a more dependable, punctual, and congenial group of scholars. I
am deeply grateful for all they have done to make my work a joy.
In the later stages of production, I also had the good fortune of work-
ing with other consummate professionals: Brigitte Shull and Maia Wool-
ner at Palgrave have patiently and punctually replied to my questions;
Michael Alewine at my institution’s academic library has been helpful,
as always; and Nami Montgomery has been an able, conscientious, and
reliable graduate assistant. Thank you all for being the ideal partners for
this project.
Finally, I thank my wife, Lisa, and our children, Essie and Will, for
their patience and support, as well as their help with the cover art.