Fri, May 9th, 2008 Make That Fifty-One Percent Posted by: Keir
Yet another article about the problem of memoirs helps prove Jessa Crispin’s contention that “Fifty percent of all books coverage these days is, ‘Who is telling the truth?’ ” (”Memoirs: Whose Truth — and Does It Matter,” by Matthew Shaer and Teresa Mendez, Christian Science Monitor). But it’s worth reading anyway:
She points to Augusten Burroughs, whose memoir, “Running with Scissors,” has been subjected to particularly intense scrutiny following a string of allegations. “It’s a constant rehashing,” says Crispin. “Now, when people think of memoir, they begin to associate it with lying.”
David Sedaris, who estimates the truthiness, or realishness, of his forthcoming When You Are Engulfed in Flames at “97 percent,” thinks we’re not seeing things in correct proportion:
“What’s interesting to me,” he says, “is that we live in a time when our government is telling us some pretty profound lies. And then James Frey writes a book and it turns out some of it’s not true. No one asked for their vote back, but everyone wanted back the money they’d spent on that book. We’re in the shadow of huge lies and getting angry about the small ones.”
Speak for yourself, Sedaris. I’m mad as hell about the huge lies, and only somewhat angry about the small ones. And while keeping a sense of proportion is important, isn’t it important that everyone tell the truth, politicians and authors alike? And if fudging some facts is important to achieve a larger truth, fine: just tell us you’re doing it.*
Thu, May 1st, 2008 Hey, man, I hate to bother you, but I’m like a really important writer, and my car broke down…. Posted by: Keir
The literary news is just so entertaining lately. For instance, confidence men have been targeting bookstores, posing as published authors. Yes, you read that right. In the L.A. Times (”Hoaxes hit bookstores“), Scott Timberg reports that bookstore workers have received calls from people pretending to be Mark Sarvas (Harry Revised, 2008), Eric Gower (The Breakaway Cook), Nick Hornby (Slam, 2007), Ray Bradbury (Now and Forever, 2007), and Russell Banks (The Reserve, 2007)–most of them claiming that something bad had happened to them and that they needed money wired to them right away.
Authors are often short of money, but really.
And Mark Sarvas? No offense to the always interesting Elegant Variation blogger, but he doesn’t seem like enough of a “name” to serve as the lynchpin for a con. Although I guess you might assume he needs money more than Ray Bradbury does. And Skylight Books manager Karen Slattery seems to like him:
“There is this sense that bookstores have this special relationship with authors, that they help them out. And if it had really been Mark Sarvas I definitely would have done it.”
Tue, April 29th, 2008 Bad Sourcing, Bad Citing, and Bright Shiny Book Events Posted by: Keir
Ashes to ashes, pulp to pulp. A forthcoming biography of Madame de Maintenon, Louis XIV’s mistress, written by Veronica Buckley (Christina, Queen of Sweden, 2004) is being recalled due to its reliance on a faulty source (”Hoax diary snares Bloomsbury,” by Claire Armitstead, the Guardian’s theblogbooks):
The problem, it turns out, is with the attribution of a little-known document Le Journal Secret de Louis XIV. Little known because it was in fact “reconstructed from historical sources” by a mischievous French scholar in 1998.
Twitchell initially denied a pattern of plagiarism, but the 64-year-old professor was contrite and ashamed when recently confronted with a larger body of evidence.
“It’s my responsibility to make sure that the words and ideas are my own and, if not, that they are properly credited. In many cases, I have not done this,” Twitchell wrote in an e-mail Wednesday. “I have used the words of others and not properly attributed them. I am always in a hurry to get past descriptions to make my points, a hurry that has now rightly resulted in much shame and embarrassment. I have cheated by using pieces of descriptions written by others.”
And I don’t know why, but this last item seems to fit on this page, too. The hype for James Frey’s Bright Shiny Morning is growing (”He’s Back: James Frey Mixes Fact and Fiction, This Time with Art,” by Kate Taylor, The New York Sun), and there’s going to be an expensive art-book companion to the novel, called Wives, Wheels, Weapons. Which makes sense, because he’s not just a writer, he’s an artist.
“Despite the fact that he writes books, he’s much more a part of the art world than the literary world,” Mr. Frey’s friend John McWhinnie said of him.
And:
The sections about L.A. history and culture in “Bright Shiny Morning” are “sprinkled with facts that may or may not be accurate,” Mr. McWhinnie said. “The book opens with a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer that nothing in it can be considered true,” he continued. Mr. Frey intentionally mixed true and made-up “facts” — mixing real names of gang members with fake ones, for instance — in order to highlight both the factitiousness of L.A. culture and the ironies in his own authorial past.
Interestingly but perhaps not surprisingly, the book tour will avoid bookstores and focus on rock clubs, with heavy metal, light shows, and projected images supporting the author. I guess that way, if there are hecklers, it will be much harder to hear them.
If I were a gambling man, I would have picked The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao to win Fiction and A Long Way Gone to win Current Interest. But then again, they often do things differently on the Left Coast. Last year, for instance, they chose A Woman in Jerusalem over The Road. But I am positively delighted to see Be Near Me getting more recognition.
Thu, April 24th, 2008 Ich mag diese Idee Posted by: Keir
According to the CBC, the German publisher Bertelsmann AG is planning a print version of Wikipedia (”German publisher plans printed version of Wikipedia“). Well, the German part, and only the most-searched articles. Still, I hope shopkeepers are prepared for the people who show up with pens, scissors, glue, and alternate pages.
Der Fall hielt die Literaturfreunde in Atem. Vladimir Nabokov wollte, dass sein letzter Roman verbrannt wird. Die Witwe brachte es nicht übers Herz, Sohn Dimitri Nabokov (73) hatte die Tat bislang immer mal wieder angekündigt. Jetzt aber hat er angekündigt, der Nachwelt das Nachgelassene zu übergeben.
How did Dmitri resolve his terrible dilemma? With a little help from his father:
From his winter home in Palm Beach, Dmitri justified his decision by saying, “I’m a loyal son and thought long and seriously about it, then my father appeared before me and said, with an ironic grin, ‘You’re stuck in a right old mess - just go ahead and publish!’”
He told the magazine that he had made up his mind to do so.
It was, Der Spiegel states, this “conversation” with his father that “persuaded him against assuming the role of literary arsonist”.
I think this is a terrible act of cowardice. And it’s not really arson if the home’s owner asks you to light the match, is it? But now that the decision has been made, Dmitri had better hope that the manuscript–bear in mind that it consists of 50 index cards–is as good as he claims (”the most concentrated distillation of [my father’s] creativity”). After all this hype, people will be expecting Lolita to the power of Pale Fire.
Wed, April 23rd, 2008 Bad Sex from Beyond the Grave Posted by: Keir
According to Page Six, researchers wishing to learn more about Norman Mailer’s sex life–and why would anyone would want to do that?–can contact Harvard:
The storied Ivy League institution - where the Pulitzer-winning author received a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering - has purchased a treasure trove of books, papers and letters relating to Mailer from his longtime mistress, Carole Mallory, including X-rated descriptions of their red-hot bedroom sessions.
“There’s a 20-page sex scene from an unpublished memoir I wrote called ‘Making Love With Norman,’ ” Mallory told Page Six. “It’s very steamy. Norman was a real man and he knew what he was doing.”
Mallory, who carried on with Mailer during his marriage to sixth wife Norris Church, maintained a sense of decorum about the affair:
“I thought I should wait until his passing before releasing any of it out of respect to his family,” Mallory said.
Norris Church, of course, is still alive.
If the purple passages of The Castle in the Forest are anything to go by, I’d suggest keeping the papers under lock and key to protect unawary undergraduates.
The 2007 
