James Frey, the Memoir, and Truth

[dalailamar]

By now, everyone in America has heard of James Frey's book A Million Little Pieces. If not, where have you been? He's the only thirtysomething memoirist that I know of who has recently appeared on both Oprah and Larry King, and if that won't make you a household name, I'm not sure what else will

Comments

[hosemedown]

There's no need to rethink your definition of storytelling. The issue is not storytelling, or even the power of a story well told. The issue is, if one says something is true, one is lying if he is unknowingly saying untruths. In memoir, it is accepted as a convention that an author will composite characters (to avoid confusion and protect identities) and compress or speed up time. But it is not acceptable or expected that the author will blatantly make shit up to make the story more compelling. It's a question of ethics.
I e-mailed my literary agent about this very thing, as I am writing a memoir, and she replied:

Every year there's a some author like Frey. This got so much publicity because the Oprah blook club raised his profile and had already made him a phenomenon. The book will keep selling, and sell gazillions. The guy's laughing all the way to the bank, and so is the publisher. But the next book may very well tank.Apparently, in publishing, it's accepted that authors take a little "creative license." But readers believe an

Fascinating

[dalailamar]

It's fascinating that people inevitably compare the experience of reading a memoir to the experience of dating. Obviously, I completely disagree with your idea of the nature of the memoir. If you're being mislead by marketing (James Frey WAS NOT in a position to place his book in the appropriate place in a bookstore), then you should consider the nature of the ways in which American companies market books. This should not be a conversation involving the author; the problem is in the way readers interpret the text. Again, not to be a jerk, but you obviously do not understand the meaning of the memoir.

But by the way, congratulations on finding a literary agent who obviously sees her field in strict capitalist terms. I wish my agent could be so demented. Determined. I mean determined.

Re: Fascinating

[dalailamar]

AHH! I love the New York Times, but I just read that terrible article you referenced. I'll get back to you tomorrow with a comprehensive refutation.

Re: Fascinating

[dalailamar]

Okay I retract the word "terrible." Michiko Kakutani is sometimes completely dead-on, sometimes completely wrong, and sometimes she's a little of both. I suppose that is what makes her such a good writer

[frumiousb]

sort of yes to your post, but only sort of. I can agree with you about there being a strange naiveness in how people read memoir.

Still, I gotta say that there is a difference between accepting some personal mythologizing from a memoir writer and deliberately repackaging a book that was originally marketed as fiction as a memoir. This is a notion along the lines of saying that acknowledging shades of grey does not mean that you cannot cross a line. There is a difference between interpretation and lying, isn't there? Doesn't there have to be?

(Note. No disappointment here. I haven't read the book, probably will not. Not my kind of memoir or fiction.'

purejuice also has some has some interesting thoughts on the subject. She also raises the obvious connection between Frey and Hellman (someone I have read). Hellman did real damage with her lies. Her memoir posed as history.

[hosemedown]

Yup. (Read my response, above. I think it's a pretty articulate explaination of my position.)

That said, there is never going to be uniform agreement on this subject. And that's okay.

[katecore]

i couldn't agree more, honestly.

[sliding_doors]

huzzah!

exactly!!!!

thankyou thankyou thankyou

someone else shares my point.

(i had this argument with people in thebooksellers, but i wasn't as articulate as you were/are)

[mixedupfiles]

A Million Angry Junkies: A Definitely Non-Fiction Sequel