Blurring of Fabrication and Reality
James Frey has gotten himself into a little bit of a pickle over his supposed memoir, A Million Little Pieces. He took quite a beating on Oprah and has lost his agent.
This whole ordeal has shed light on dark crevices in the publishing industry that have gone unchecked. That rather delicate element of trust has been ripped apart. Readers can't trust the publishers who can't trust the agents who can't trust the writers. Readers can't trust the writers.
However, let's take a step back and examine what memoir means: a narrative composed of personal experience. Basic, simple definition. A narrative composed of personal experience. Personal experience isn't necessarily truthful. The mind plays tricks on a person so they may not remember every little detail or the exact order of events.
But in today's day and age, fabrication and fact blur. An example that comes readily to mind is The Da Vinci Code. A thoroughly researched book with an intricate plot line that could very well be real. Many many people believe it is real. Yet, it is fiction. So what are readers to do? Believe the classification? Believe the writer?
Or, believe the words on the page. Believe the story being told. Have faith in the story being told and take it for what it is worth, good or bad. Julie Keller of the Chicago Tribue makes a good point in her January 30, 2006 column titled Sorry, Oprah. The writing is the real draw. People are drawn to the subject because of the writing. Oprah picked it for her Book Club because of the writing. The writing makes the subject matter come to life, just as the writing of The Da Vinci Code made the subject matter come to life and has people questioning it as being more non-fiction than fiction.
And it is also the writing of A Million Little Pieces that has caused the questioning and the controversy that has erupted after The Smoking Gun published its story highlighting the lies prevelant in A Million Little Pieces. If the writing wasn't so amazing, if the Smoking Gun staff hadn't heard so much about the book, if Oprah had not chosen it for her Book Club, A Million Little Pieces wery well might have remained a best-seller without the controversy.
Memior writers wouldn't have to worry about whether or not the validity of the information would be put under a microscope, every little checkable piece of information verified before their memiors will be published.
Readers wouldn't have to stop and wonder if the memoir they are reading is classified correctly. There wouldn't be this underlying feeling of dishonesty, that a well-written memoir is actually fiction.
Still, the publishing industry as well as readers of the world have to ask themselves: are authors or the words on the page worth trusting? If the words move you but the author does not, then don't the words speak to you more than the author?
Do the words communicate what you cannot? Do the words point you in a direction you did not consider?
Regardless of a book's classification, the words have the impact, not the author, not the publisher.
This whole ordeal has shed light on dark crevices in the publishing industry that have gone unchecked. That rather delicate element of trust has been ripped apart. Readers can't trust the publishers who can't trust the agents who can't trust the writers. Readers can't trust the writers.
However, let's take a step back and examine what memoir means: a narrative composed of personal experience. Basic, simple definition. A narrative composed of personal experience. Personal experience isn't necessarily truthful. The mind plays tricks on a person so they may not remember every little detail or the exact order of events.
But in today's day and age, fabrication and fact blur. An example that comes readily to mind is The Da Vinci Code. A thoroughly researched book with an intricate plot line that could very well be real. Many many people believe it is real. Yet, it is fiction. So what are readers to do? Believe the classification? Believe the writer?
Or, believe the words on the page. Believe the story being told. Have faith in the story being told and take it for what it is worth, good or bad. Julie Keller of the Chicago Tribue makes a good point in her January 30, 2006 column titled Sorry, Oprah. The writing is the real draw. People are drawn to the subject because of the writing. Oprah picked it for her Book Club because of the writing. The writing makes the subject matter come to life, just as the writing of The Da Vinci Code made the subject matter come to life and has people questioning it as being more non-fiction than fiction.
And it is also the writing of A Million Little Pieces that has caused the questioning and the controversy that has erupted after The Smoking Gun published its story highlighting the lies prevelant in A Million Little Pieces. If the writing wasn't so amazing, if the Smoking Gun staff hadn't heard so much about the book, if Oprah had not chosen it for her Book Club, A Million Little Pieces wery well might have remained a best-seller without the controversy.
Memior writers wouldn't have to worry about whether or not the validity of the information would be put under a microscope, every little checkable piece of information verified before their memiors will be published.
Readers wouldn't have to stop and wonder if the memoir they are reading is classified correctly. There wouldn't be this underlying feeling of dishonesty, that a well-written memoir is actually fiction.
Still, the publishing industry as well as readers of the world have to ask themselves: are authors or the words on the page worth trusting? If the words move you but the author does not, then don't the words speak to you more than the author?
Do the words communicate what you cannot? Do the words point you in a direction you did not consider?
Regardless of a book's classification, the words have the impact, not the author, not the publisher.
posted by Gwynne at
9:54 AM
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