NONFICTIONAL PROSE

any literary work that is based mainly on fact, even though it may contain fictional elements. Examples are the essay and biography. Defining nonfictional prose literature is an immensely challenging task. Nonfictional prose literature differs from bald statements of fact, such as those recorded in an old chronicle or inserted in a business letter or in an impersonal message of mere information. As used in a broad sense, the term nonfictional prose literature here designates writing intended to instruct (but not highly scientific and erudite writings in which no aesthetic concern is evinced), to impart wisdom or faith, and especially to please. Separate articles cover biographical literature and literary criticism. Additional reading On the essay, see R.D. O'Leary, The Essay (1928), which analyzes the essay theoretically and examines several categories of essayists. David Daiches gives a brief and lively introduction to his anthologies of essays: A Century of the Essay: British and American (1951), and More Literary Essays (1968). On letter writing in general, the best piece is by Gustave Lanson, in French: Introduction to Choix de lettres du XVIIe sicle, 5th rev. ed. (1898), reprinted in Lanson's Essais de mthode, de critique et d'histoire littraire, pp. 243258 (1965). On personal literature, the diary, autobiography, and the questions raised by those forms of prose, see Henri Peyre, Literature and Sincerity (1963).