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Dr. Talbot's new book examines the fine line between fiction and non-fiction
Dr. Jill Talbot, Oklahoma State University English Department Visiting Assistant Professor, is the co-author of The Art of Friction: Where (Non)Fictions Come Together, a new book which examines the fine line between fiction and non-fiction. The Art of Friction anthologizes nineteen creative works by contemporary, award-winning writers including Junot Díaz, Jonathan Safran Foer, Thomas Beller, Bernard Cooper, Wendy McClure, and Terry Tempest Williams, who also provide companion pieces in which they comment on their work. These selections, which place short stories and personal essays (and hybrids of the two) side by side, allow readers to examine the similarities and differences between the genres, as well as explore the trends in genre overlap. The book functions both as a reader and as an examination of the craft of writing. The book will be available from the University of Texas Press on October 1, 2008.
Dr. Talbot and her co-author, Charles Blackstone, had this to say about the book: "We live in an Enquirer, reality television–addled world, a world in which most college students receive their news from the Daily Show and discourse via text message. Recently, two nonfiction writers have been criticized for falsifying memoirs. Oprah excoriated James Frey on her show; Nasdijj was impugned by Sherman Alexie in Time. Is our next trend in literature to lock down such boundaries among the literati? Or should we address the fictionalizing of nonfiction, the truth of fiction?"
Dr. Talbot, who has been teaching in the English Department at OSU since August 2007, received her PhD in American Literature from Texas Tech University. Her dissertation was titled, “This is Not an Exit: The Road Narrative in Contemporary American Literature and Film.” She is also the author of a memoir, Loaded: Women and Addiction, which is published by Seal Press, a member of Perseus Book Group. Of Loaded, Library Journal said, “Talbot's mastery of the written word is obvious . . . she creates a work of honest emotion and introspection.” Her work has also been published in Under the Sun, Cimarron Review, Blue Mesa Review, Notre Dame Review, and It’s All Good. In addition, Talbot was the recipient of the 2002 Jovanovich Prize in Poetry, judged by Quincy Troupe, and the 2003 Jovanovich Poetry Manuscript Prize .
Dr. Talbot and Charles Blackstone, who is also the author of the novel The Week You Weren’t Here, met at the University of Colorado Boulder, where they both studied Creative Writing. Dr. Talbot said that she and Blackstone view The Art of Friction “as a conversation between two genres, and we envision its cogent placement in courses from the introductory to the graduate level. The selections are captivating and varied in form and style, and the commentaries offer insight into the creative process as well as where and how authors make (or don’t make) choices regarding genre.” Dr. Talbot also wrote the introduction for the book. She lives in Stillwater with her daughter, Indie.
English Department
College of Arts & Sciences
Oklahoma State University
205 Morrill Hall
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-9474
For Information about English Programs: english.information@okstate.edu
Webmaster: engweb@okstate.edu
Dr. Talbot's books:
The Art of Friction: Where (Non)Fictions Come Together
Review and/or purchase at University of Texas Press homepage
Loaded: Women and Addiction:
