Monday, January 30, 2006

James Frey Fallout -- Nan Talese's Husband An Ass

Publishers Weekly reports on another discredited author. Three memoirs written by a "Navajo" writer named Nasdijj are utter lies -- turns out they were penned by a gay porn pioneer named Tim Barrus. (At least he was a pioneer; that sounds sort of Western-ish.) That brings to mind one of the most famous fake memoirs of all -- "The Education Of Little Tree," a heartwarming memoir about Little Tree being raised by his Cherokee grandparents. It too was a lie -- the author was a virulent white segregationist.

And the NY Post reports on reaction to Oprah's show. A sidebar (not posted online) has the juiciest quotes. Tom Wolfe makes the idiotic comment that "Frey didn't cross the line because there was no line." (Does that mean the astronauts in "The Right Stuff" didn't really go into space?)

Finally, publisher Nan Talese's husband Gay says, "Oprah was wrong and then protected herself and her program. She had to go public because she was shown to be a phony." His wife peddles a pack of lies as a brutally honest memoir and Oprah is the phony? As for the suggested disclaimers, there is only one disclaimer that can go on "A Million Little Pieces" and it's a very short one: FICTION.

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