MEET ME AT RINGSIDE: “non-fiction” novel as a one-punch literary phenomenon

Abstract

The text will focus on the golden era of the so-called “non-fiction novel”, seeking to describe the difficulties in defining the sub-genre within the context of an overarching theoretical quest which aspires to determine the exact terms of a notion of “fiction” in a literary framework. Two exemplary works from the period will be described, and the strategies put into force by both their authors (Truman Capote and Norman Mailer) – in order to enforce a certain idea of (non) “fiction” –, albeit multimodal and sometimes inconsistent, will be compared. That idea of “fiction” entails, as will become apparent, decisive side implications on the definitions of crucial terms such as “narrator”, “tale”, “account” and even “History”, calling for a deliberate rarefaction of these categories in order to accommodate an uncommon, unmatchable sense of “presence”.