ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at three broad types, or genres, of literature: fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Everyone would agree that Herman Melville's famous book Moby Dick is a work of fiction. In the reading, New mentions the philosopher John Searle, who characterized fictional discourse as "nondeceptive intended illocutionary acts". Some literature is fiction, but not all fiction is literature. A wordless strip cartoon and a mime play, they show us imaginary characters acting in imaginary scenes and situations, are works of fiction, but they are not linguistic productions, and are not literature. The ironist and the fiction-maker perform para-illocutionary acts. In fictional works, the stories usually concern persons, or quasi-persons. As with every other art form that has been considered in this book, there is no defining set of characteristics of creative nonfiction. Readers turn to creative nonfiction to find a place to connect to the personal voice, to connect not to art or knowledge alone but to another mind.
