THE IMAGE OF NEW YORK IN AMERICAN LITERARY NON-FICTION REPRESENTED BY GAY TALESE’S A SERENDIPITER’S JOURNEY

Joanna Przeszlakowska-Wasilewska

Katedra Filologii Angielskiej Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie



Abstrakt

The paper is devoted to the image of New York City created by a representative of
American post-war literary non-fiction, Gay Talese. What is especially brought into focus
in the analyzed New York – A Serendipiter’s Journey is the approach the writer employs to
present his personal picture of the city. Talese’s attitude consists in combining some key
techniques of traditional reporting with a more individual and imaginative treatment relying
on a wanderer’s/stroller’s point of view. From the perspective of a city traveller New York
is unconventionally pictured through its untypical and usually unnoticed aspects such as e.g.
forgotten places and odd occupations. It is emphasized that the writer’s image of the city
actually results from a number of pictures accumulated in the course of his own and many
other individual journeys. Finally, the paper accentuates the effectiveness of the literary
journalistic technique of merging the non-fictional with the literary in order to convey the
convincing and credible vision of reality.


Słowa kluczowe:

American literary non-fi ction, city image, New York, journey, street


Barańczak S., Biblioteka Poetów Języka Angielskiego. Emily Dickinson, 100 wierszy, Kraków, Wydawnictwo Arka 1990.   Google Scholar

  Google Scholar

Boynton R.S., The New New Journalism. Conversations with America’s Best Non-Fiction Writers on Their Craft, New York, Vintage Books 2005.   Google Scholar

  Google Scholar

Finnegan R., Tales of the City. A Study of Narrative and Urban Life, Cambridge University Press 2004.   Google Scholar

  Google Scholar

Fisher P., Hard Facts: Setting and Form in the American Novel, New York, Oxford University Press 1986.   Google Scholar

  Google Scholar

Sims N. and M. Kramer, Literary Journalism. A New Collection of the Best American Non-Fiction, New York, Ballantine Books 1995.   Google Scholar

  Google Scholar

Stevenson D., Cities and Urban Cultures, Buckingham, UK, and Philadelphia, Open University Press 2003.   Google Scholar

  Google Scholar

Swirski P., All Roads Lead to the American City, Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press 2007.   Google Scholar

  Google Scholar

Talese G., Fame and Obscurity, New York, Ivy Books 1993.   Google Scholar


Opublikowane
2012-12-01

Cited By /
Share

Przeszlakowska-Wasilewska, J. (2012). THE IMAGE OF NEW YORK IN AMERICAN LITERARY NON-FICTION REPRESENTED BY GAY TALESE’S A SERENDIPITER’S JOURNEY. Acta Neophilologica, 2(XIV), 199–207. Pobrano z https://czasopisma.uwm.edu.pl/index.php/an/article/view/967

Joanna Przeszlakowska-Wasilewska 
Katedra Filologii Angielskiej Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie