Monday, April 8, 2013

Summary based on the article by Tom Wolfe "The Birth of 'The New Journalism'; Eyewitness Report."

In this article Tom Wolfe explains that New Journalism was something he did not fully understand until he saw other popular writers, such as Thomas B. Morgan, Brock Browser, and Gal Talese use this new style of writing in their articles. After reading work from these writers, he started to grasp the concept that this writing was extremely  unique in the sense that it had a story format. New Journalism he says is "artistic". When someone creates an art piece, especially one they enjoy doing, they invest so much energy in it. They express themselves in their work, and leave it to tell the theme behind it, or the main idea behind the piece.

New Journalism gives people the same opportunity an artist gets in their work. It allows the writer to add plenty of detail, examples, interviews, go into history if they desire to do so, and just drag their reader in. New Journalism is so rich in detail that once someone reads the piece, they can't put it down. Traditional Journalism allows for less expression and is very dry, but New Journalism adds a spice that makes it more memorable. So based on all these benefits, Tom Wolfe makes it clear that he fully supports this new phenomenon.