Oprah Dismisses Claims About Frey Memoir

Bibliofile says:

Oprah Dismisses Claim about Frey Memoir
As reported in the New York Times article, by Edward Wyatt, published January 11, 2006, the publisher of A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey, issued a statement saying that, in essence, it did not really matter:

“Memoir is a personal history whose aim is to illuminate, by way of example, events and issues of broader social consequence,” said a statement issued by Doubleday and Anchor Books, the divisions of Random House Inc. that published the book in hardcover and paperback, respectively. “By definition, it is highly personal. In the case of Mr. Frey, we decided ‘A Million Little Pieces’ was his story, told in his own way, and he represented to us that his version of events was true to his recollections.”

I tend to agree. In the 1997 Pulitzer Prize winning Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir, by Frank McCourt, did Smoking Gun check the accuracy of McCourt’s conversation/memory when at the age of three he got off the seesaw and let his brother Malachy, then age two, plummet to the ground and injure his tongue, giving the account in bloody detail? Did McCourt have exact recall of conversations between his mother and father and the neighbors? I think not. Did all of the conversations and events occur exactly as written? It starts with him wearing rags for diapers, for god’s sake.

Or, what about another extremely well-known, well-reviewed and beautifully written memoir The Liars Club, by Mary Karr? Did all of the conversations and events happen exactly as written? That’s the beauty of a memoir. Most literate people know they are not reading a biography–with end notes and documented research–when they read a memoir.

The following further defines a “memoir”, again from NYT, by Edward Wyatt, published, January 11, 2006,

“Calling something a memoir puts the reader on notice that it is a personal perspective and it is, by definition, skewed,” said Alice Martell, a literary agent in New York, whose clients include Janice Erlbaum, author of the forthcoming memoir “Girlbomb.” “Who is to say what is the definitive account of an event? By calling it memoir, you are saying: ‘It is my take. I did not research this as a disinterested third party.’ “

I further agree with this excerpt from the New York Times piece, by Eward Wyatt, published, January 12, 2006, quoting Nan A.Talese, saying that a memoir cannot be held to the same standard as history or biography:

“Nonfiction is not a single monolithic category as defined by the best-seller list,” she said yesterday when asked to comment on her husband’s remarks. “Memoir is personal recollection. It is not absolute fact. It’s how one remembers what happened. That is different from history and criticism and biography, and they cannot be measured by the same yardstick.”

At least James Frey and the writers of these articles put their names on what they have written. Is there a reason Smoking Gun’s article has no by-line?

Bibliofile says:

Re:Oprah Dismisses Claim about Frey Memoir
I can assure you I have a full brain. I think the most important message in Frey’s memoir has to do with the way he dealt with his drug and alcohol addiction. I found the story compelling–whether fact or fiction–and well written. Perhaps Smoking Gun hopes all the attention will garner a second reporter?

  Really, I don’t care about any of this. A Million Little Pieces was and is a good read, has helped many people and is now getting trashed because it was an Oprah pick. All I have to say about that is at least Oprah has gotten a nation of people to read.