A Million Little Credits

I've yet to see James Frey's author's note for "A Million Little Pieces," that he and his publisher promised the public after Oprah shattered Frey into shards of mea culpas last week. I'm looking forward to it.

In the meantime, I've been on the lookout for examples of author's notes. I came upon two close to home.

When I published "The Needle" an excerpt from a novel-in-progress set in a military hospital at the tail end of World War II, I was mindful of novelist Thomas Mallon's standard for historical fiction:

"Nouns always trump adjectives, and in the phrase 'historical fiction,' it is important to remember which is which."

So, my author's note provides source material from contemporary magazines and documentaries that I hope buttresses the reader's sense that fiction has its roots in fact, small details that buttress the imagination. It's at the top of the story.

When I published "The Only Honest Man," another excerpt from a memoir in progress about my grandfather and his son, the author's note reflected a desire to give credit to a writer who had already tilled the historical soil, making my job of recreating my grandfather's shady past an easier task.

"Anyone trying to reconstruct the Tammany Hall investigations of the 1930s is dependent on the work of Herbert Mitgang, the long-time New York Times journalist and biographer. I have relied extensively on his 1963 biography of Samuel Seabury, "The Man Who Rode the Tiger: The Life and Times of Judge Samuel Seabury," and his newest treatment, "Once Upon a Time in New York: Jimmy Walker, Franklin Roosevelt and the Last Great Battle of the Jazz Age," published in 2000

We live in an age of transparency where smoking guns are more and more difficult to conceal. As James Frey has learned so painfully,  it's far better to be open--about your sources, about the accuracy of your story, about what Walt Harrington, himself a memoirist, calls "the multiplicity of perspectives and the watery quality of memory."

Harrrington is not afraid to rely on memory. "But the truth is that in writing memoir, we are often going to rely on our memories. The rule I set was that I wouldn't pretend to have memories I didn't have. I wouldn't embroider them with fiction. In that sense, they are correct."

This interview I did with Harrington about his memoir,  "The Everlasting Stream: A True Story of Rabbits, Guns, Friendship, and Family," reveals book industry attitudes about the memoir that helps explain how Frey landed in such hot water.

Fortunately, Harrington also talks about ways to use memory in an honorable fashion. Bottom line: you don't have to make it up. It's a lot more work, but you can sleep better.

Comments

[Margaret Leigh]

I found this entry very helpful, as one who is looking to publish an historical novel in which I have drawn heavily from the research and writing of Hector Holthouse, I was looking for how to handle acknowledging that fact, and am impressed with the wording of your author's note for "The Only Honest Man."

Thanks for making this post.