January 31, 2006

File Under: Fiction

I suspect Random House, the publisher of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, will never re-classify the book as fiction. Adding publisher's and author's notes stating that not everything contained within is true might pacify critics. What it won't do is stop the Brooklyn Public Library from putting the book where it correctly belongs.

It is important that the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) classifies books in its collection in a way that reflects the community's expectations. When BPL learned of public and publishing industry concerns of the discrepancies in James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, we felt it necessary to react in a way that would assure Brooklyn's library users that the information they want and need is easily available and accessible within a clear and truthful classification system.

Slate's Timothy Noah noticed Nan Talese knew about problems with the book's accuracy long before The Smoking Gun story.

I'm fascinated at the differences of opinion between Nan Talese and her husband, non-fiction writer, Gay Talese. A few weeks ago, they were both on CNN. About memoir Gay told Anderson Cooper:

Well, it means a mirror of yourself, as best you can reflect yourself. It doesn't mean absolute truth, because we don't know absolute truth at all. But it certainly means a very vigilant and vigorous attempt to reflect yourself accurately and verifiably

...

Memoir does not mean that you can be at liberty with the truth or with your own research on yourself.

He went on:

I believe that the credibility of the whole story depends upon the total effort of the writer to be responsible, even in matters that might not be relevant to the overall story.

I do not think there's a matter of 10 percent or 8 percent. I believe you really have to be 100 percent accountable. And, even if you fail -- and we all do, much as we try, but we certainly do -- we are flawed, as Jim recognizes himself, as a flawed figure.

But I do believe, when it comes to credibility, in this time when our country so much relies upon -- upon accountability and accuracy, or an attempt at accuracy and not being deceptive, I think that writers, no less than the government of the United States, no less than anyone in corporate life or television, has to be believed and has to be, if not entirely right, at least sincerely committed to being as right as you can be.

And I don't think there's any tolerance for kind of a minimum or minimalist attitude with regard to maximum credibility.

Nan's response was quite limited:

You know, the reason we published the book was because of the power of the narrative of his rehabilitation and what he went through.

Later she said,

But -- but the fact is, here is a person from the age of 10, for 14 years, has been on alcohol and drugs. Perhaps -- I mean, I'm not a psychoanalyst, but perhaps he felt that he needed to make himself worse.

I mean, would an editor say to someone, I really don't believe that you're as bad as you are? I mean, this is what he said. In publishing, we do not check author's facts. The authors present their books and they guarantee they are truth.

If James exaggerated, which he now says he did, these two instances of his being really horrible, it is mistake. He apologized for it, or he didn't apologize, but he acknowledged it. The thing is, the thing that I'm saying is that, without those two scenes, I would have published the book. They are irrelevant to the essence of the book.

"Why Brooklyn Says Frey's Fiction"