Investigative Literature?

[roddy]

I picked up a magazine / journal today called 当代, about half of which is taken up with an investigation of rural areas ( 中国农民调查), with the rest being medium-length fiction.

The investigation comes under the heading of 报告文学, which is a phrase I've not heard before. The journal itself (and my dictionary) translates it as Reportage. However, from what I've read of the piece so far, it's pretty much heavy-weight investigative journalism, involving two years of field-trips.

In the introduction, the authors seem to say that reporting shouldn't be left to only reporters, but that writers have a responsibility not only to chart the course of history, but to investigate and influence it too.

Would anyone say this is a tradition among Chinese writers?

Roddy

[skylee]

But this kind of writing is quite common. And the term 報告文學 has been around for a long time.

[roddy]

I'm sure it has - I'm just quite intrigued that people who term themselves writers seem to be doing more investigating than the people who call themselve journalists.

Roddy