Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, is being sued, as announced yesterday evening. He allegedly fabricated significant portions of the book. The plaintiffs are demanding three times the money earned from the sales of the book and that everyone who bought a copy be refunded.
They aren’t suing (in this case) over the mismanagement of funds in his aid organization or over issues pertaining to the fact or fiction of schools he built or didn’t build in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are suing because they say he lied in his book.
*For a book to be sold as ‘true,’ what standards must it meet?
*What does the First Ammendment have to say about this? Does it even apply?
*If you ever read a memoir by a President or by a celebrity, do you believe every word is true?
*What does that mean, ‘true’?
*How far can creative license go in memoirs?
*What is the line between biography and memoir and fiction?
*Why are these people suing? How were they harmed by reading?
*Could nonfiction be called Not Fiction, in which case, it isn’t exactly claiming to be fact? Should there be three categories Fact – Not Fiction – Fiction?
*What are some other examples of this kind of book or movie or other ‘truth-telling’ gone awry?
In the case of A Million Little Pieces, which is now sometimes sold as fiction, the premise of the book remains true. Frey was an addict, now he isn’t. Does what happens in between those two facts change the nature of the book? And what, then, should it be called?
When I wrote in the Modern Love column that I decided to have a baby after Henry and Maggie stopped holding my hand, that was true. But not the whole truth. It was an actual event but it also captured well all the emotions involved in bearing children. Are memoirists obligated to tell the whole truth with no nuancing?
I believe that every book marketed as memoir needs to be read with a grain of salt. No one remembers word for word conversations from their childhood, or exactly what they ate at Thanksgiving dinner 1981, but the essence, the soul, of the story can be remembered. And if that core is true/accurate/the way the author recalls it, the book is a memoir. It isn’t a history textbook or a journalistic presentation, it is a story of the author’s experience told through the biased eyes of that author.
That being said, in a book like Three Cups of Tea, Mortenson was writing more than simply his story. He was presenting the development and progress of an international aid organization and with these facts, he should have been accurate. Also, it appears he fabricated events that were entirely made up. I do believe this is dishonest and bleeds over into the genre of fiction.
For example, the book I am writing is a memoir. It is true in the sense that every event, person, place, emotion, experience presented in the book actually happened. Did I write down exactly the words we said? Or exactly the time of day? No. But do I make up people and events for the heck of it or even to build a better story? No.
T o the absolute best of my ability and integrity, I am writing it as I remember it, focusing on capturing the core of it. As in the story of deciding I was ready for another baby. I believe this also lets the reader enter the story. If I had bored you with every detail of that decision, not only would the story never have been published, but it would also have alienated the reader from being able to relate his/her own similar experience. To me, this is a key goal in what I write; finding the universal in the specific.
However, if in the future, I decide to write a book about the founding of Resource Exchange International in Djibouti and highlighting the successes and failures of our work and projects there, I would feel (and be I believe) much more obligated to get the facts precise. Dates, times, wording, numbers, people.
What do you think? Do you even care or do you simply want to read a good book?
I would love to hear your thoughts.
I think journalism as a whole has lost a lot of the veracity it used to be known for years ago. Now, it is common to hear of mistakes in reporting, or even out-and-out fabrications as people strive to make a buck, or have their 15 minutes of fame on either side of the pen.
However, that being said, I believe some of the best books I have ever read were personal accounts where the author used their own personal story to encourage and lift up another person, even if that meant using creative license, not fabrication. Sometimes feelings and emotions can only be told using circumstances that capture it, and the reader feels right along with the author what was experienced in the heart. Shame on the man for lying about the facts, but as to the rest of it, what is this world coming to when you can get sued for writing a book about your personal experiences and told what you can and cant write? Authors, and journalists should hold to the high road and write what is accurate and true. Cant wait to read your book, Rachel.
That is the crux of the question, isn’t it? Where is the line drawn between creative license and fabrication. I would make the case that if a person is benefitting off another’s story and claiming as their own by changing significant details, then there is a problem.
The ironic thing is that 1000 years later, when some literary historian digs up Three Cups, will it be any less powerful a story because details were fabricated? Or, it is perhaps more important the immortal lessons it teaches in telling the story will have power and meaning then? (But, who knows, we might all be slaves to some evil robot overlord by then…)
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Nice, thoughtful article, Rachel…
Rachel, have you read “Half Broke Horses” by Jeannette Walls? (It’s a great book!) On the cover she classifies the book as a True-Life Novel, even though it is basically a memoir of her grandmother’s life, written in the first person…in her grandmother’s “voice.” In the back of the book, Walls explains that while the overwhelming majority of the events in the book were totally accurate and true, because she had to use her imagination to fill in a few “hazy” spots in her grandmother’s story, she felt she had to call it a true-life novel. Anyway, it’s a great book (amazing life!) and I guess that kind-of answers your question about a third category…maybe? 🙂
I thought about mentioning that book but since I haven’t read it yet, I didn’t. Thanks for bringing it up though, I LOVED Glass Castle, so I’ll have to get on the library list for Half Broke Horses too. I think you’re right, that does fit into that third category and I respect how she handled it.
Words have meaning and they express and represent all that is good and bad in our lives. Once a word is written or spoken it cannot be taken back it is forever attached to that event, true or false. A writers integrity is all they have. If they label something non-fiction and it is fiction then they have gained wealth and reputation from a lie. In America our post-modern culture would like to down play truth to just a perspective. Unfortunately our journalism and scholarly authority has fallen victim to this cultural philosophy. I don’t think this man should be sued but I do think that with his reputation as being a liar, his reputation should precede him. He should publicly apologize for the willful deception of his readers.
Thanks for joining the discussion, Mike. I like what you are saying about his reputation and the integrity of a writer. Now that this has been called into serious question for him, all his other work will be tainted by it. Some truth is more black and white as opposed to the emotional things I referred to in the post. For example, I read that Mortenson talks about holding Mother Teresa’s hand, but at the time frame in which he places that event, she had already died.
I only read non fiction but I am interested in truth as well. As I get more fossilitis, its hard to know what the truth is about htings in my past like…was I born in 1951 or 1851?… many of my friends would say 1851 but I really think it was 1951. :):):)
[…] it comes to writing nonfiction, should writers be held to the same factual standards as news reporters? Is it ever okay to compress time? To create composite characters? To change […]