Literary Reportage: How Facts Become a Story
The collection “Der rasende Reporter” (The Raging Reporter), which Egon Erwin Kisch published in the mid 1920s, is a good starting point for asking what makes a literary reportage. Its title became the author's nickname. The Prague reporter Kisch (1885 to 1948), who wrote in German, showed that a plain description of reality can read like good prose. But how do bare facts hold a reader from the first sentence to the last?
What Is a Literary Reportage?
A literary reportage combines observation on the spot, conversations and verified facts with the tools of storytelling. It rests on what the writer has checked, while also drawing on literary craft: settings, characters and the rhythm of sentences. So it conveys more than information and lets a vivid picture arise. Every description is grounded in what the reporter saw or heard.
The German Historical Museum counts Kisch among the founders of the literary reportage. That placement points to the genre's own history and to the people who shaped it. It is more than a stylishly dressed-up form of journalism. Facts come first, and style is there to serve them without replacing them. Where the story drowns out reality, reportage turns into fiction.
The Reporter's Craft
The craft starts with fieldwork. The reporter travels to the place, observes, listens and talks to people. Only then does the writing begin. Each of these steps is needed: observation without conversation gives a one-sided picture, while conversation without cross-checking can lead astray. Once the material is gathered, the writer decides what goes in and what stays out.
A good reporter draws a clear line between personal observations and what others have told her. The credibility of the text depends on it. Readers must be able to tell whether a scene comes from firsthand experience or from second-hand accounts. Craft and professional ethics meet here: disclosing where information comes from is part of the telling.
Describing Reality and Telling a Story
In a reportage, describing reality means more than listing details. The reporter picks the ones that say something about the place and the people and leaves the rest out. From the collected material a story emerges with a beginning, a middle and an end. Because the author makes this selection, he has to stay faithful to what he actually saw.
One special variety is regional reportage. It focuses on the places and people of a limited area and draws on local sources. That allows the author to bring out details that national media overlook. Local readers, in turn, recognize their surroundings in the text.
Remembering Kisch
Kisch's influence can still be felt in the media world. In 1977 the magazine Stern established a journalism prize named after him. It shows his lasting place in the tradition of the genre.
Literary reportage joins research on location with the art of storytelling. The best way to get to know it is to read texts in which the author keeps her own observations clearly apart from other people's accounts. We invite you to start reading.