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Busted!

6/9/2010

6 Comments

 
Are all writers of memoir, liars?  I know some who became very public liars once their audience contained fact-checkers who exposed their guilt.  Famously, James Frey wrote of horrific drug experiences, many pieces of which never happened—at least to him.  One writer began her book with a scene of her father-in-law throwing her typewriter out on the front lawn because he disapproved of her writing.  Only the last half of that statement, the dull part, was true.
   When I heard these examples during writing workshops, I join the others in condemnation, knowing I would never stoop to such deceit just for the sake of story.  However, after passing the warnings along to my own students, I remind them to “color” their scenes because description and dialog depend on telling things your characters would typically say and the clothes they might have worn or the cake they might have made for, let’s say, your tenth birthday.  But to say that an incident happened when it did not—never!
   I know the line and never thought I’d cross it. Until my own granddaughter, the now college senior who I supposedly taught to read at a young age, blew my cover. She, like her younger cousins, keyed in on her name in All Nature Sings.  I had been very careful to avoid making the story about them but Lindsay found one incident that she questioned: a story about the legend of Chief Wabasis’ treasure.
   The Chief, so the story goes, got a large financial settlement for his tribe from the US government but instead of sharing it, he buried it somewhere near Wabasis Lake.  Several of our neighbors had been told, when they were youngsters, that the treasure just might be buried by our lake, Flat Iron. We passed the treasure story along to our own grandkids after we found Indian artifacts in our back yard.  But I got carried away, stating “when the kids got restless, we’d tell them the story again and send them out with shovels to look for it.  “Never happened!” said Lindsay, flatly.  “If anyone would remember such a thing—it would be me.”
   I could blame this stretch of story on my husband who loves to tell it to strangers and may have even added the shovel part, but that would be too much like that couple in the garden called Eden.  I chose to write it in my book; I knew it was not true.  I’m busted; I’m no better than a common liar who thinks she must stretch the facts for the sake of a good story.  But worst of all, I felt no guilt until my own fact-checker caught me in the lie.

6 Comments
Mary
6/10/2010 12:07:58 pm

Oh Mom. Don't be so hard on yourself! Just say it to the kids next time we're over and you will be redeemed. :)

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Carol Rottman
6/11/2010 12:20:09 pm

Great idea--no one will ever know. Thanks for reading!

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Jessica
6/14/2010 07:53:29 am

So, after reading this I was reminded of a continuing discussion in Prof. Felch's seminar class this past semester. Patricia Hampl, in "I Could Tell You Stories", speaks of how she feels no guilt in bending the truth for memoir for all recounting of memory is a clouding of truth and a fiction. Then she speaks of, essentially, betraying her mother by publishing something her mom wasn't comfortable with. I had a lot of trouble with her approach.

I think it's great that you are conscious of the inconsistencies in your own memoir... it seems like a difficult thing to do ethically or charitably. And hey, if that little thing is the largest inconsistency, then good on you!

Have you ever read Mary Karr's ideas about memoir? It's worth perusal: look up "Facing Altars”

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CArol Rottman
6/15/2010 10:02:15 am

Jess,
I am a real fan of Patricia Hampl and the book you mention. It is she who said that we don't merely have experiences, we are entrusted with them. I couldn't agree more and have let that thought guide me. However, most of us are super careful not to offend the people we love.

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Research Paper Writing Services link
1/18/2017 03:53:38 am

At that point she discusses, basically, selling out her mom by distributing something her mother wasn't happy with. I had a considerable measure of issue with her approach. I am a genuine devotee of Patricia Hampl and the book you specify. It is she who said that we don't only have encounters, we are depended with them.

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Debbi
1/5/2018 02:05:25 pm

Hi, Carol. I love your page, i saw in your topic I don't like Funder your dog Jake, the Lab, I also had a lab, her name was Lady.

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