spynotes ::
  January 24, 2006
Liar, liar, pants on fire

Freshhell made an interesting observation on my entry from yesterday on James Frey and the question of historical accuracy in memoir:

I think part of the problem - the blurring of fact and fiction - is the number of Author Factories (like Iowa) that churn out dozens of "writers" who do not understand that just because they lived it (or didn't) doesn't make it an interesting story. And, fiction is harder to write WELL than it first appears. It's very hard to turn a "true event" into something that reads like a story and it's very hard to "make up" a story someone wants to read. Memoir still needs to follow the same arc that fiction does - there has to be a compelling conflict and a believable resolution. The character has to come out of it changed in some way. And that's why I think these memoirs end up as fiction - because our lives are not series of changes for the better. We don't often learn from our mistakes. Someone's experience, however compelling, doesn't necessarily make it a story worthy of being published. Something has to happen, something has to change.

[I should mention here that freshhell was responding to the issue of truth in memoir in general, not to Frey in particular] This makes a lot of sense to me. I don�t know much about how writing is taught or practiced at the Author Factories, but I can see how Frey might have arrived at his current position. You start with writing what you know � your life. But you need to try to tell a good story. And so you alter things, small at first, big later. It�s no longer fact. You try to sell it as a novel. At some point a publisher tells you that this novel doesn�t ring true and you say, but it is true. It�s my life. Well that�s different, says the publisher. It�s a memoir. That will sell. So it gets sold as a memoir instead. You figure no one will ever know because who�s going to follow up on a guy like you? And then someone does and you�re outed. It�s still based on your life, you think. You merely took some poetic license to make a good story. Maybe the essence is still true. But now some of the subjects of the book are protesting. They have stories too, and they�re being twisted. It�s too easy to move from poetic license to petty larceny.

I still have an issue with the lack of accountability throughout this whole thing. Frey has taken no responsibility for his actions. The publishers haven�t either � in both Frey�s and Leroy�s cases, the publishers came forward with meaningless statements along the line of �we stand behind our authors.� In any case, this is too late in the game to be held accountable for facts. That should have happened before publication. If something is published as fact, there should be some fact checking -- that�s how it works in the world of journalism. Or, at least, that�s how it�s supposed to work. Clearly they�re having some problems with accountability too, otherwise people like Jayson Blair wouldn�t have gone undetected for so long. And then there are the popular historians who have been accused of plagiarism in the last few years. But in fairness, those types of mistakes are easier to make through pure human error than you would think and a lot harder to check. Still, all of this implies to me that we care a lot more about getting things out fast than about getting them out accurately. In academia we are constantly being held accountable. That�s why the whole peer review process exists. For those who are unfamiliar with peer review, most respected academic journals and books are reviewed by anonymous experts in the author�s field for accuracy and perceived value. Recently, though, even academic publications are demonstrating that the engine of accountability is not always deployed correctly. The case of the scientist who faked papers on human cloning is a perfect example. Those who were supposed to be paying attention signed off on the project without investigating it properly first. It took too long for the guy to get caught. His paper should never have been published in the first place.

But although I think we are currently lacking the moral directive to provide accountability, I�m not sure memoir is the area in which we should be cracking down. I�m inclined to think that we should just define memoir as a semi-fictional genre. Separate it from autobiography and save autobiography for first person historical documentation of public figures. Let memoir be fictionalized. It�s better to read that way. As freshhell observes, it generally makes a much better story. When I pick up a memoir, I�m really looking for a good story. Because if it�s not a good story, it�s just someone talking about himself for too long.

There�s a precedent for such a hybrid genre on the other side of the fact/fiction divide. The roman a clef is thinly-veiled fact sold as fiction.

Okay, I�m tired of talking about Frey. I�m inclined to think that the biggest crime committed by Frey and his publisher is in drawing so much attention to such a lousy book.

I have received a meme tag-back from the inimitable Miz P. And since she kindly obliged me, how could I refuse?

4 jobs you have had in your life: arts administrator, teacher, babysitter and waitress (all excellent training for my current job as AJ�s mom in which I am called upon to entertain, instruct, take care of and serve his royal highness)

4 movies you could watch over and over: Box of Moonlight, The Thin Man, A Night at the Opera, Bambi

4 places you have lived: Only 4? There�ve been so many. I�ll pick my favorites: Chicago, IL; London, England; Northampton, MA; New York City

4 places you have been on vacation: Paris, France; Bruges, Belgium; Highway 1 in CA; Alpbach, Austria

4 websites you visit daily: Diaryland, Google, Oxford English Dictionary (I�m a sucker for etymology), my university library

4 places you would rather be right now: Outside the chapel at my university throwing my doctoral cap in the air, on the beach near my parents� house, in a canoe in front of Manoir Hovey on Lake Massawippi in North Hatley, Quebec, upstairs in bed with a book

4 bloggers you are tagging: I�ll let those of you whom I tagged last time off the hook, but if anyone else wishes to join in, consider yourself tagged. I�ll say rs-536, lemming, freshhell and readersguide.

9 people said it like they meant it

 
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