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Contributor: Allison Crews. Lesson ID: 13861
Literary nonfiction is a method of presenting factual information artistically. This lesson will help you understand, analyze, and evaluate these types of texts.
Jot down the first five words or phrases that come to mind.
Today, you'll explore a type of nonfiction that may have you thinking just that. It's called literary nonfiction.
Keep reading to find out more!
Literary Nonfiction
Literary nonfiction merges fiction and nonfiction writing to tell a true story with creative elements. In fact, it is often referred to as creative nonfiction.
Things like life stories (autobiographies, biographies, memoirs, diaries), histories, historical documents (letters, speeches, proclamations), and literary journalism (telling a news story through narrative form) are all types of literary nonfiction.
Literary nonfiction utilizes narrative structures like plot, setting, tone, and theme. It makes characters of the people in the narrative by showing who they are as people with whom the reader can empathize (or not).
Sometimes, it will include the literary techniques that make fiction and poetry so artistic, like metaphors and other types of figurative language.
To learn more, watch What is Creative Non-Fiction? from The Writer's Workshop:
Quick Review: Literary Devices
Review a few of the most common literary devices with this quick quiz.
If you feel comfortable with the concept of literary nonfiction and common literary devices, you're ready to move on!
If you think you might need additional support, review 10 Important Literary Devices in Prose: Examples & Analysis by Sean Glatch for Writers.com.
When you're ready, click through to the Got It? section.
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