Kept Secret: The Half-Truth in Nonfiction

by Jen Hirt (Editor), Tina Mitchell (Editor)

Overview

Creative nonfiction writers wrestle constantly with the boundaries of creative license—what to reveal, when to reveal it, and how best to do it. While the truth may inspire us to make confident assertions, secrets, lies, and half-truths inspire us to delve further into our own writing to discover the heart of the story. The pieces in this collection feature essayists who do this type of detective work. Each essay contains a secret, lie, or half-truth—some of these are revealed by the author, but others remain buried. Ranging from the deep family secret to the little white lie, from the shocking to the humorous, and from the straightforward revelation to the slanted half-truth, these essays ask us to appreciate the magnitude of keeping a secret. They also ask us to consider the obstacles writers must overcome if they want to write about secrets in their own lives and the lives of others. In short interviews following each essay the contributors discuss craft, ethics, creativity, and how they eventually decided to reveal—or not reveal—a secret.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611862478
Publisher:	Michigan State University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2017
Edition description:	1
Pages:	226
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jen Hirt is an Assistant Professor at Penn State Harrisburg. She is the author of the memoir Under Glass: The Girl with a Thousand Christmas Trees and coeditor of Creating Nonfiction: Twenty Essays and Interviews with the Writers.

Tina Mitchell is an Adjunct Instructor at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She is the founder of The Turnip Truck(s), an evolving graphic landscape for essayists, artists, and theorists interested in the dialectics of the human and its environments.
 

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Maybe It Happened Jo Ann Beard Beard 1

My Father's Secrets Ron Tanner Tanner 5

Secret Machine Brenda Miller Miller 21

Not Less Than 1,000 Bottles for Horseradish Jen Hirt Hirt 29

Okay Forever Barrett Swanson Swanson 39

Three Takes on a Jump Jill Christman Christman 63

The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison Jamison 69

Changing the Subject Amy E. Robillard Robillard 93

S-Turns Jon Pineda Pineda 107

Experiments in Living Chemistry Kelly Kathleen Ferguson Ferguson 113

Dog Psychology Tina Mitchell Mitchell 125

Invisible Nails Samuel Autman Autman 131

White Lies Erin Murphy Murphy 145

Reading History to My Mother Robin Hemley Hemley 149

Leaving Duck Creek Mary Clearman Blew Blew 163

On Lying Sarah Gorham Gorham 173

Contributors' Notes 187

Acknowledgments 191

Editorial Reviews

Kept Secret is an engaging collection of essays about what we reveal and when we reveal it, how we shape and are shaped by our memories, and the varied ways we all tell true stories about ourselves and others. All grapple with the full truth of halftruths in ways that make a reader think and feel more deeply. The short interviews that follow each essay offer additional insights as well as the writer's intentions; together, they create a kaleidoscopic and yet transparent view of how nonfiction works whenit works really well.”
—Anna Leahy, coauthor of Generation Space: A Love Story and author of Tumor
 

From the Publisher