Posted by Webmaven Maggie on January 12, 2006 at 12:47:02:
In Reply to: When is it okay to twist the truth? posted by Webmaven Maggie on January 11, 2006 at 18:59:57:
Today, this from The New York Times. I think I'm with Gay, not Nan, on this one.
Writer Says He Made Up Some Details
By EDWARD WYATT
Published: January 12, 2006
The author of a best-selling memoir whose truth was called into question this week acknowledged yesterday that he had made up details of his life.
But Oprah Winfrey, whose recommendation last fall of the memoir, "A Million Little Pieces," by James Frey, made it the best-selling book by any American author last year, said Wednesday that she would continue to recommend it despite Mr. Frey's admission that he made up significant aspects of his story of addiction and recovery.
Ms. Winfrey's statement came last night in a phone call to "Larry King Live" on CNN, where Mr. Frey was discussing news reports this week that parts of his book differed significantly from arrest reports and other public records of incidents he recounted in the memoir.
The Smoking Gun, an investigative Web site, reported on Sunday that Mr. Frey had never spent the three months in prison that he claimed, a disclosure that raised questions about a host of events that the author said occurred to him in jail and that he said were affected by his jailing, including the suicide of his girlfriend.
"I've acknowledged that I changed things," Mr. Frey told Mr. King. But, he said, the events he changed totaled less than 5 percent of the book's content, "within the realm of what's appropriate for a memoir."
Mr. Frey, who appeared on the show with his mother at his side, said he never expected his memoir to come under such close scrutiny. But he maintained that what he believes is the essence of the book is true: that he was an alcoholic and drug addict who overcame his addiction.
In her surprise call, Ms. Winfrey agreed, offering an endorsement that had Mr. Frey, and in all probability many people in the publishing industry, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Although some of the facts have been questioned," Ms. Winfrey said, "the underlying message of redemption in James Frey's memoir still resonates with me, and I know it resonates with millions of other people who have read this book and who will continue to read this book."
While many details about Mr. Frey's life before and after his time in an addiction treatment facility were being questioned, "to me it seems to be much ado about nothing," Ms. Winfrey said. "What is relevant is that he was a drug addict who spent years in turmoil" and who found a way to tell his story of redemption.
Ms. Winfrey said it was up to publishers, whom she said she relied on to document the authenticity of a book, to decide what rules govern memoirs and how they differ from other forms of nonfiction.
That debate has exposed rifts throughout the publishing industry this week, not least one between a prominent author - Gay Talese - and the similarly prominent publisher of Mr. Frey's book, Nan A. Talese. The two, of course, are husband and wife.
Mr. Talese, a renowned author of nonfiction books and a former reporter for The New York Times, said in an interview yesterday that he believed it was unacceptable for an author or a publisher to present as nonfiction a work that contained any composite or fictional characters or events, or that otherwise blurred the lines between truth and fiction.
"Nonfiction takes no liberty with the facts, and it should not," Mr. Talese said. "I think all writers should be held accountable. The trouble with book publishers is that they don't have the staff or they don't want to have the staff to ensure the veracity of a writer. You could argue that they had better, or they're going to have more stories like this one. My wife is going to hate me for this, but that is what I believe."
His wife, Ms. Talese, whose Nan A. Talese imprint at the Doubleday unit of Random House published Mr. Frey's book, disagreed, saying memoir cannot be held to the same standard as history or biography.
"Nonfiction is not a single monolithic category as defined by the best-seller list," she said yesterday when asked to comment on her husband's remarks. "Memoir is personal recollection. It is not absolute fact. It's how one remembers what happened. That is different from history and criticism and biography, and they cannot be measured by the same yardstick."
"I adore Gay, but this is a debate that we've been having for 40 years," Ms. Talese said.