nonfiction novel?

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Back in 2011 there was a thread discussing the evolution of the term
"novel". At the time, I posted some citations for "non-fiction novel"
that may be relevant here.

[begin recycled message - saving electrons]
The OED has a citation that includes the phrase "non-fiction novel"
under: non-fiction B. adj. (attrib.).

[Begin excerpt]
1965 Vogue 15 Oct. 94   [Truman] Capote is an experimenter, an
adventurer. His newest experiment is In Cold Blood, a unique book, for
it is the first non-fiction novel, a precise documentary, in many ways
brilliantly composed.
[End excerpt]

Capote's book is a famous example of the "non-fiction novel" genre.
Here is an instance of the term "non-fiction novel" in 1948:

Dew on Jordan  by Harold Preece; Celia Kraft
Review by: Marcus Bach
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 61, No. 240 (Apr. - Jun., 1948), p. 227
Published by: American Folklore Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/536144

[Begin except]
In storybook style the deep impulses that sweep with primitive passion
through the lives of Southern hill country folks are here interpreted
and, unfortunately, highly fictionized. ... Out of a series of
salacious and sensational jottings, a novelistic journal of religious
impulses has been chronicled. ...
Where caricature is necessary to achieve this purpose, the authors do
not hesitate to make the most of it.  This leads to the belief that
behind the preparation of this non-fiction novel was little study and
scanty knowledge of the wide range characteristics, the social
implications, and the historicity of the groups under discussion.
[End excerpt]

Google Books also has a match for "non-fiction novel" that has a GB
date of 1931. The Volume number is correct for the year. A date probe
with 1931 looks ok. But I have not checked it on paper. This data
might be inaccurate.

The military surgeon: journal of the Association of Military: Volume 69
Association of Military Surgeons of the United States - 1931 - Snippet view

[Begin GB excerpt]
And every sentence, every line, every word, though written in a
difficult German diction is fascinating and instructive, an
encyclopedia of knowledge under the covers of a non-fiction novel.
[End GB excerpt]
[End recycled message]

Garson

On Wed, Mar 5, 2014 at 1:11 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: nonfiction novel?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Mar 5, 2014, at 1:06 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
>> At 3/5/2014 09:30 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>>> ...
>>> Capote's In Cold Blood (1966) is perhaps the most famous in the
>>> genre, but scarcely the first.
>>>
>>> arnold
>>
>> Arnold, what would you say *is* the first nonfiction novel?  That is,
>> ignoring The Iliad and restricting oneself to works in English.
>>
>> Joel
>>
> And do (covertly) falsified memoirs count?
>
> LH
>
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