Prompt:
For our prompt this week, I want you to think about fake memoirs, author mills, and celebrity inspired book clubs. Basically write a readers' response to one of the articles you are reading for this week (see syllabus for readings) - or talk about a time when a book or author that made headlines affected you personally or your work.
The article by The Smoking Gun regarding the evidence they’ve found against the non-fiction claims of “A Million Little Pieces” was rather alarming to me. It’s not that I have never anticipated that a non-fiction book would have falsities or stretch the truth, but that’s always been vague assumptions. When presented with a case so specific and in-depth regarding aspects of “A Million Little Pieces” struck me with a very uneasy feeling. I never before had to face this issue and I didn’t quite know how to feel about it.
So, as I read the article I continued to try and reconcile with myself. How does this make me feel? Why do I feel this is wrong? Because, certainly stretching the truth and inconsistencies can be okay in literature. I mean, I’m a huge fan of all things fiction, and I can certainly see how embellishing on certain aspects or dramatizing them for the sake of the story would create a greater/more enjoyable experience for the reader. But, and I feel this is a huge but, The book was marketed and sold as non-fiction. Non-fiction obviously implies a level of truth, and it is a promise to the reader that what is in-between the covers is true. As a reader, I would take in the content of a nonfiction book completely different that one that is known to be inspired by true events or completely fiction.
This, I think, is where my major hang ups come from, and my feelings of injustice as this author sold their book as nonfiction and tried to cover up the evidence, or lack of evidence. The author and the book are deceitful. In the literary world I guess I find sacred the implied truths in a nonfiction book. It’s more than false advertising because a story is more than a commodity. A story can resonate with someone, it can change their perspective or their beliefs. So, if a reader is promised that what they are reading is factual it’s a major issue to find out they have been deceived. They are being manipulated into thinking differently, and I feel this is a cardinal sin.
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ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your reader's response. I did mine on fake memoirs and I think we agree, why can't authors just write a great fiction book instead of claiming it as truth? "A Million Little Pieces" was also listed in the article I read and I vaguely remember the Oprah uproar over it. I guess some authors feel people will be more impressed with what has happened in their lives that their creative writing ability.
ReplyDeleteI thought your description of feeling of being betrayed by having so much falsehood in a "non-fiction" book was really well-put. It seems that some memoirs fall along the lines of when movies say they are "based on a true story" --it's hard to know how much truth is in those, too.
ReplyDeleteAs a reader there is an acute sense of betrayal , that the author is trying to pull one over you, it is disheartening. Full points!
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