Frank Sinatra Has a Cold

With his expertly crafted winding prose Gay Talese crafted one of the great master pieces of “new journalism.” Frank Sinatra comes to life in the multi-page article through Talese’s use of rich descriptive words, personal anecdotes, and eye witness accounts.
Talese – to the disdain of many, but to the praise of others – varied his writing style from the accepted norms of journalistic reporting to a much more literary style of story telling. He was not the first writer to use the “new journalism” style of reporting; however, he was one of the most well recognized.
Talese revealed Sinatra’s somewhat authoritarian presence right from the beginning through his use of the story of the two blonde’s, Nancy and Ava, as well as his portrayal of the pool room episode. Talese made it clear that Sinatra did as he wanted and expected others do the same.
This unconventional style is frowned upon on in many circles; however, there are many things that mainstream news writers can learn from this approach. First, every once in a while this literary style can and should be used to convey certain meanings and nuances in an article. Second, this style is not required to consume entire stories; however, it can be helpful in spots. And finally, it is important to remember that style can and should be used as an amazing tool to accurately convey meaning.