Although the artist as subject is not a particularly new concept, i.e James Joyce's "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man," in postmodernism as well as in creative nonfiction how the subject is defined is a new concept. In postmodernism as well as in creative nonfiction, the subject is often marked by an self-consciousness that is pushed to the limits of absurdity. The self as subject, without the modern moral reference points, leads to a reality where all consciousness is subjective, and no particular attitude or way of viewing the self or others is more valid than any other perspective and, therefore, the self and it's choices lose meaning. A crises of consciousness is created--a phenomenon in which the self is, sometimes, frantically choosing, acting to define meaning.
For instance, one of the reasons critics cite in their positive reviews of Frank McCourts "Angela's Ashes" is that he just tells his story, shows his story; rarely does McCourt comment on or editorialize about any of his scenes. In other words, he presents his story as phenomena. Another example of presenting a story as phenomena occurs in "This Is How It Ends." Toward the beginning the adult protagonist is in a dream-like state where childhood memories cascade, but none seem to have an ending, a closing comment. The memories are phenomena; in this sense, sensory experiences, although readers know to expect elaboration, because the phenomena are part of a book. As a writer, I make the promise that the book will make sense, that something will be learned or discovered. The reverie also distorts space-time. Are the feelings and attitudes involved in the dreams in the present or are they just references to past conditions?
And new journalists often put themselves in the middle of the action, and thereby become active participants in their stories, rather than objective observers. Postmodernists as well as creative nonfiction writers believe that it is impossible to be just an objective observer. If you were there, then on some level you were a participant.
While not all creative nonfiction writers abstain from editorializing, most of the most prized writers do, or at least pick their comments carefully. They know when and where the text calls for comment. For instance, in "This Is How It Ends," I comment, or interpret, when I know that the child is unable to adequately tell the story, because of limited perspective or experience. The need to interpret creates a reliance on more traditional literary forms, a return to a subject that does believe that there is an objective reality, although it's her reality. However, in "This Is How It Ends" that reality is presented as more of a condition of wants and needs than a belief in immanence.
I could go on and on, but this is a blog--not a university paper. Postmodernism and creative nonfiction share many traits in common, the more obvious traits are: the self as subject, time-space distortion and actions, and even the self, as phenomena.
I like creative nonfiction because of its emphasis on the artist as subject. But what I've learned is that the artist needs to be careful, because s/he can easily write about a subject in such a way that s/he is unimportant to the reader, absurd as in silly.
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