Friday, January 13, 2006

Frey and Emotional Truth. More fiction than fact?

Truth. What is truth?

Now, we have "emotional truth." Huh? Well, ask James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces, the book that is now subject to much criticism since
In an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Wednesday, Frey admitted embellishing some details of the book, but insisted that was part of the memoir-writing business. He also said that "the emotional truth is there."

His insistence that people who write memoirs are not writing what he called journalistic truth touched a raw nerve, especially among journalists, editors and writers who publicly question whether writing a memoir should be a license to lie.
The controversy has not died down as this article attests: "Pundits attack author Frey and unhappy reader sues."

In a related post, Ignatius Insight Scoop has a humorous take on the whole thing:
In a related story*, Pontius Pilate has released his memoirs, translated from the original Latin and published by Random Hose, titled What Is Truth? Sources say that Pilate argues that truth is "essentially emotional" and also "emotionally essential." Pilate could not be reached for comment since he is currently dead.

(* Brief Author's Note: This paragraph contains true content that is embellished by content that is not true, but supports the desire of the author and publisher to sell books.)

No comments: