I am writing this reader's response on the "Fake memoirs" page at Wikipedia. One of the most surprising things about fake published memoirs is the sheer amount. I had no idea there were so many discredited memoirs published. It makes me wonder that there are more out there that have not been discovered.
It is a curious thing for the publisher when something like this is discovered. While there are certainly consequences for the author, the blame also seems to rest on the editor, or publishing company that released the book. How much can they be held responsible? Should an investigation take place to assess the accuracy of an author's claims? This seems an unlikely event. However, it seems reasonable that a publisher should do something to confirm the authenticity before publication.
These fake memoirs are similar to other types of creative and biographical nonfiction. There are plenty of biographies, and autobiographies, that have conflicting series of events. Or inaccurate information. The difference seems to be one of degrees. A fake memoir is completely, or mostly, fabricated, whereas errors in biographies are more specific and often attributed to poor memory, biased analysis or lack of information.
This page on Fake memoirs was very enlightening to me, as well. I had no idea there were so many memoirs being published like this. It makes you wonder if the publishers want to know the truth or not.
ReplyDeletefull points!
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up an important point, who is to take responsibility for verifying how truthful nonfiction such as memoirs are. Memoirs seem like they would cause more trouble to determine the legitimacy of the writing since it most likely would deal more with personal accounts of situations and emotions as opposed to facts. I'm not sure who should be accountable, but I think it's something that needs to be discussed in the literary world.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is important that you pointed out that fake memoirs are mostly fake. The responsibility should solely lie on the author, but the publishers and editors do care some of the burden. With this knowledge, the publishing companies should have a system in place to fact check and also be sure that the author understands that they can publish this as adult fiction and then no legal issues will arise.
ReplyDeleteAccountability is important otherwise there would be memoirs popping up everywhere that truly holds no factual information. I just do not understand why anyone would want to lie about this. I mean it makes no sense.
For some reason, fake memoirs are not that disturbing to me, and I don't know why. I guess there's varied degrees of what is deemed a true memoir. Some could me mostly true with many embellishments, and then others could be completely fabricated. I guess I'm mostly concerned whether the story draws me to where I want to read it. I'm sure I would be a little miffed if let's say The Glass Castle was completely fabricated because it is a story that I can relate to with my childhood, but if it wasn't completely true, I don't think I would be completely devastated. For some reason authors who just crank out books, some which may not be their work but a ghost writer or a collaboration where one of the authors takes the credit for work that was mostly done by a collaborating author, irritates me beyond measure. Again I don't know why one scenario irritates me more than the other, but it does.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, fake memoirs are not that disturbing to me, and I don't know why. I guess there's varied degrees of what is deemed a true memoir. Some could me mostly true with many embellishments, and then others could be completely fabricated. I guess I'm mostly concerned whether the story draws me to where I want to read it. I'm sure I would be a little miffed if let's say The Glass Castle was completely fabricated because it is a story that I can relate to with my childhood, but if it wasn't completely true, I don't think I would be completely devastated. For some reason authors who just crank out books, some which may not be their work but a ghost writer or a collaboration where one of the authors takes the credit for work that was mostly done by a collaborating author, irritates me beyond measure. Again I don't know why one scenario irritates me more than the other, but it does.
ReplyDelete