THE THINGS THEY CARRIED Creative Nonfiction The Writers

THE THINGS THEY CARRIED Creative Non-fiction: The “Writer’s Truth”

EPISTEMOLOGY Epistemology • Defined narrowly, epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief or truth. As the study of knowledge, epistemology is concerned with the following questions:

QUESTIONS OF EPISTEMOLOGY: • What are the necessary and sufficient conditions of knowledge? • What are its sources? • What is its structure, and what are its limits? • How we are to understand the concept of justification? • What makes justified beliefs justified? • Is justification internal or external to one's own mind? (http: //plato. stanford. edu/entries/epistemology/)

TRUTH AND STORYTELLING • All humans attempt to make sense of their lives by identifying their life’s narrative. (Ricoeur, 1983) • The effort to identify truth is crucial; to do otherwise would result in madness. • Poe anyone? • Some factors that influence our perception of truth: • The difficulty of an experience • The difficulty of talking about an experience • The difficulty of writing about an experience • We unintentionally revise memories as we recall them • plasticity of the brain

WHY DOES IT MATTER? • Truth may be ambiguous, but “stories are for eternity” (38). • Does O’Brien’s account of Vietnam express a truthful account of the war? • Is he a reliable narrator?

YOUR TASK: • TIMED, INFORMAL WRITING • 30 minutes • In journal • Find 4 passages in the first 50 pages revolve around “ambiguous” truths or “Writer’s Truths” about real situations. • Analyze each passage: What is O’Brien’s purpose? Intent? What do the details add/change/take away from the story?