Some folks on AUTOCAT had a little discussion recently about whether or not to reclassify James Frey's A Million Little Pieces from non-fiction to fiction and I was wondering if anyone here has an opinion about it.
We have a couple of copies, and they seem pretty popular, but I'm loathe to reclass them. We classify works objectively, describing them as the authors present them. Rethinking that is a very slippery slope. If we reclass this title, there are plenty more to bring into question, 'cause, let's face it, memoirs and autobiographies just aren't always the most honest and accurate things on the shelves. Then, what do we do with other non-fiction works that ostensibly present false information? In my opinion, we have a lot more productive things to do with our time than opening this particular can of worms.
I am, however, considering editing the 520 (summary note) to reflect recent developments re. the title's "truthiness".
What do y'all think?
[Update 2.14.06: I've changed the summary note a bit, and added a link to Frey's "note to the reader" in which he addresses the fabrications. I figure that that's sufficient for our purposes. Take a peek and tell me what you think.]
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4 comments:
Honestly, I think it would be fine to just leave it alone. People are going to read the book, read about the controversy and make up their own minds about. But nothing wrong with a helpful little note about the controversy to steer them.
Speaking of "truthiness" , anybody else watch "The Colbert Report"? It's gotten really good!
Yeah, I'm inclined to leave it in its current class number too. I am going to take a stab at objectively rewording that 520 note though.
The note looks great. Unfortunately the link to Frey's note doesn't work for some reason. At least for me right now on this computer. :)
Does the computer you were on have a pdf viewer? It seems to be working fine on my machine. Let me know if you are still having problems.
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