Two of Prof. Tom Chiarella's Esquire Articles Deemed "Must-Reads"

January 15, 2008

January 15, 2008, Greencastle, Ind. - Two articles written by Tom Chiarella, visiting professor of creative writing at DePauw University, are among the "40 Film Journalism Must-Reads & Sees of 2007," according to ShortEnd magazine. The pieces in question are "Halle Berry's Date with a Perfect Stranger," which appeared in the May 2007 Esquire, and "The Sexiest Woman Alive IV Starring Charlize Theron as Herself," from Esquire's November edition. Chiarella is the magazine's fiction editor.

The Berry-Chiarella article "questions the lines between interviewee-interviewer," notes ShortEnd. "While Berry writes the body of the story, her meeting with a perfect stranger, Chiarella comments in witty asides of the self-examining persuasion, essentially, as one Esquire reader wrote in the next issue, stealing the story away from Berry. It's an absolute joy of an article to read, both because Berry so easily spins off her commentary on celebrity writing in general and because Chiarella takes the time to playfully check the actress' opinions along the way. It's a piece of writing sketching moments that feel truly examined and earned, a piece that feels real within a celebrity culture that stakes its existence on the exact opposite."

Of the Theron article, ShortEnd remarks, "Chiarella is a master of his words and narrative beats, placing each, without the least bit of manipulation or abuse, in cohesive and remarkable lines of dialogue and action ... It's a piece that easily could have failed and does instead the exact opposite. It triumphs quite quietly and almost, dare we say, lovingly."

Access the entire list by clicking here.

A May 2007 story summarizing the Berry-Chiarella collaboration can be found here.

Tom Chiarella has been a member of the DePauw University faculty since 1988. He has authored the books Foley's Luck, Writing Dialogue and Thursday's Game: Notes from a Golfer with Far to Go.

In November he had an essay published in Las Vegas Weekly which examined, "Does Las Vegas Have a Soul?" A link can be found via this previous story.

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