Literature and Journalism

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 9 7 8-1 - 1 3 7-3 0 0 6 2-1 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 DOI 10.1057/9781137329301 ISBN 978-1-137-32930-1 (ebook) 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 Acknowledgments 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 vii ix

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- lasting 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 or even any editors have had the good fortune of working 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 working with other consummate professionals: Brigitte Shull and Maia Woolner 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.