Lawrence Weschler on the Fiction of Non-Fiction

Joseph Mitchell and Ryszard Kapuscinski were both non-fiction writers who cut their teeth as reporters but went on to create some of the most celebrated narrative non-fiction of this century; full of indelible characters, plots, settings and dialogue. But both have also been dogged by accusations that they committed journalistic sins by doctoring dialogue, manufacturing scenes and creating composite characters. For Bob these were unforgiveable transgressions but Lawrence Weschler, himself a celebrated author of narrative non-fiction, argues that the problem actually lies with Bob’s rules of truth and consequences.