Truth Will Tell

AMEN, she said without irony (well, okay, sincerely AND with irony) . . . my view is here. Reading yours was joyful:

And I’ve been bummed that there hasn’t been more analysis of Frey’s memoir from the point of how memory is itself, largely made up. The discussion that has taken place has facetiously suggested a rating system to indicate when a memoir is veering into fiction, but there hasn’t been much discussion of how none of us, even the ones with sterling integrity, do not have unmitigated access to the reality of our experiences.

Which is not to say that the events that are recounted never happened. But our understanding of what happened, the way we tell others of our experience, is an act of construction. . .

JJ

That we both decided to post on this within a few minutes of one another. Must be something in the zeitgeist.

I'm very glad I followed the link here -- two of many things that made me think --

Lorraine:
No pretty packages. No neatly tied up endings. Life simply goes on. And on. But as a consequence, I tend to prefer novels or creative non-fiction where it’s not clear what lies in store for the main character other than more mess. Mess, like everything else, is cyclic.

Me:
Cyclic? Not a regular kind of cycle, certainly. Just a constant possibility.

But it does seem that that search for "the right answer" -- the answer that will put all of life's normal ups and downs -- cyclic or not -- to an end . . . if only I take the right course, have the right job, worship at the right pew, send the kids to the right school . . . all this searching for the talisman that will make everything safe and easy . . . that's where we stop thinking and start wishing/believing and stop having any room to make right choices.

***************
Lorraine:
But I do not read memoir expecting to be able to know exactly what happened. I accept that I’m being told a story—a story that is shaped by the storyteller in response to the limits of language, the influence of ideology, the desire to make meaning out of events.

Me:
Brava! Yes! Getting what we can out of a story is so much more valuable that tossing it aside because it may not be historically accurate. Especially if it's a "message" sort of story.

Or just see the way a "white woman" of a certain era presents herself -- even in her own diary. That tells us about her as mush as her words do.

Nance

I'm not going to lie — I only read half of your post. But the first part is the most important part (to me at least) because, well, it's exactly what we studied in class. Hurrah! I think the only real tragedy of this whole matter is the fact that people actually pay such attention to fucking Opera. But that's another story (and what a laughable one it is). Anyhoot, yeah, it's like I used to say in class, there's a LIMIT when it comes to making stuff up....And, personally, I think you can make up a lot in a memoir. Just don't get caught, buttmunch! Oh, and the fact that Oprah followed up Jame's Frey's folly with Night is just bad business. I mean, obviously, now you will have certain people who will try and question the integrity of Night. And, to be honest with you, Elie Weisel is just too fucking old and too fucking accomplished to have to deal with that.

Though here's a question for you: do you think that any part of Night was fictionalized? I'm not trying to say that it was, I'm simply trying to play devil's advocate. Regardless, what do you think?