10.22 Creative Nonfiction and writing the "truth"

We started class by listing the lies James Frey put into his memoir.  We then classified the lies in terms of what we felt were the most damaging, and then we ranked them (starred entries had the highest ranking).

Frey lies:
conneected himself to the train accident
special relationship to girl who died
closeness to the family of the girl who died
**made himself the "third victim"
**drug addict, alcoholic, rebel, troublemaker, dealer => makes himself into a romantic hero
made policeman "fat" + aggressive
made jail term longer, changed charges
claims multiple arrests + long jail sentences
wanted in 3 states
**got jailtime reduced by a judge influenced by a ganster
hit a cop
crack use/dealing
set record for blood alcohol
**story about Lily - who died for love of him (creates fictional woman = romantic heroine)
**rehab not necessary = went cold turkey
air plane/vomiting bleeding
root canal without anaesthetic
trip to France
**lied about lying
books he read to Porterhouse (Leonard)
said he was suicidal
creates persona of self that matches a romantic hero
maximum security prison

We did not agree exactly on the ranking, but we seemed to be in the same ballpark in terms of what kinds of lies were most egregious in CNF:
lies that perpetuated damaging (and probably untrue?) stereotypes about people (women who die without their man,thugs with a heart of gold), institutions (the police, government)
lies that may touch the lives of real, struggling people (quitting drugs cold turkey)
lies that re-write or damage the lives of real individuals (lying about the connection to the girl who died in the train accident, lying about the policeman);
and lies about lying => lies that compromise the way readers regard creative nonfiction.

The discussion of Daisey was not so extensive, but we identified a short list of lies that raised similar (and different) issues.

Daisey lies:
security guards guns
solvent/shanking
union meeting at starbucks
moment with translator
worker with ipad
workers talked to him in English
lied about lying

We summed up the differences by suggesting that Frey lied to sell his book, a menoir, and that he (under inescapably exposure) owned up to the lies and didn't really justify them (after he stopped lying).

Daisey told his lies for a "higher truth" connected to social justice, and he put his work forward as  journalizm, though after he was caught, he switched to representating it as art as a rationalization for rounding corners, changing facts, and telling outright lies.

At the end of class you wrote a list of  times you've been lied to.  After you had your list, you chose one or two incidents, and considered:

motivation
power dynamics
who benefits
how it plays out

And, we talked about it.

As usual.  this write up does not do justice to the discussion.  What a great class. Thanks!

Conference schedule:
Monday 10/27: MaryEllen 12:00; Matt 3:30; Christina 4:00
Tuesday 10:28:  Patrice12:30  ; Holly 1:00.
Wednesday: 2:00 Cristal; 2:45 Briana; 3:30 Patricia; 4:00 Florie (if you still want a conference after the comments)

After class: Melissa + Osza.

For next class:

Read: Jill Talbert http://brevity.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/border-crossings-fiction-and-the-literature-of-fact/

Dinty Moore  http://brevity.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/what-is-given-against-knowingly-changing-the-truth/

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Blog 7: Write some notes about which essay you will revise, and what you will do to revise it.

See you next week!