A field guide for immersion writing Memoir, journalism, and travel

Hemley (Univ. of Iowa) unpacks principles of "immersion writing," nonfiction in which the writer is as much a subject of the work as the subject itself. In lucid prose, he explores memoir, journalism, and travel writing through analysis of central traits and writerly practices in five subgenres common to those genres: reenactment, experiment, infiltration, investigation, and quest. Hemley is careful not to make the boundaries of his analysis too rigid. In immersion memoir, for example, the writer explores things/events in order to discover the self; in immersion journalism, the writer brings the self to things/events in order to discover the world. In all cases the relationships between what Hemley calls "the vertical pronoun" and closely observed particularities of the world are central. Practicing what he preaches, Hemley reflects on his own career--and on diverse other writers' projects--to demonstrate such relationships. This "field guide" is exactly that: lessons for writers wishing to practice these forms. It brings principles of ethnographic methodologies into focus for writers not schooled in introductory anthropology. It is also an entertaining survey of contemporary writing. Hemley's categorical approach serves to highlight similarities and (sometimes subtle) differences among these forms and the practices that create them. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, professionals. M. F. McClure Virginia State University