Beyond Comparison

Abstract

This chapter identifies the stakes for American literary journalism in a globalized world and examines its ramifications abroad. It reflects upon the state of international literary journalism and examines its most urgent challenges in terms of research, development, and education. After discussing the American exceptionalism attached to the genre, it also considers the methodological and epistemological quandaries that inevitably emerge from transnational and translational considerations. A comparative approach to literary journalism benefits from tools and concepts drawn from parent disciplines such as global journalism and comparative literature and parallel disciplines. Michael Werner’s histoire croisee and Mads Rosendahl Thomsen’s constellation models help to structurally and dynamically articulate global instances of literary journalism. Convergences and divergences between traditions are thus sketched into multidimensional patterns of signification. A transatlantic examination of American literary journalism and French grand reportage, or ecriture du reel, serves as a case in point. Finally, the chapter speculates on the genre’s future endeavors, including pedagogical ventures, philological dilemmas, publishing strategies, and forays into digital humanities, all with a view to affirming the purposes of and prospects for literary journalism in a global context.