earticle

영어

This article examines the textual engagement of John Hersey, as exemplified in The Algiers Motel Incident, with the four text types—narrative, description, argument, and speech. John Hersey is one of the earliest and leading advocates of the New Journalism who involved the literary techniques of fiction-writing in writing The Algiers Motel Incident. He traces the contours of the ‘12th Street Riot’ in Detroit, Michigan, during which three innocent black teenagers were killed by the officers and soldiers of the Detroit Police Department and the Michigan Army National Guard. Based on his collections and findings, he rigorously and toilsomely constructed the challenging story world where the three teenagers were not the “perpetuators” of the incident but the “victims” and they were unjustly condemned as snipers and brutally killed by the law enforcement personnel. Hersey’s multi-textual representation of the incident makes The Algiers Motel Incident a highly performative space where the new journalist shapes his stance towards the reported and constructs his role, whereas the readers become an observer, a listener, a co-author, and a judge, depending on the text type the journalist is configuring the event with. His effective counter-storytelling well showcases his use of textual engagement with the four text types.