There is too much to say about Friday’s Truth and Storytelling panel, with Alexandra Fuller, Andrew Westoll, Gary Geddes, and moderator Barry Callaghan. So I’ll say very little.
First of all, Barry Callaghan is a very smart man. And gruff and understated, so I wondered at first if, as moderator, he would lead us into a dry one and a half hours. Not so. By a long shot. After each of the panelists read excerpts from their work, his level of familiarity with the limits of memory, and truth, and language—and the discomfort of writing about those close to you—brought the discussion to rich territory quickly.
Callaghan quibbles with what he sees to be a distinctly American requirement that all details be literally, documentably, true for a book’s great truth to be trusted. Alexandra Fuller (Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness) came down slightly on the other side of this argument, admitting to being part of what Callaghan referred to as the “Truth Squad” (James Frey “crossed a big line” in her opinion). But Fuller did also confess that her sister says she’s been far too kind in her books’ depictions of their crazy mother.
More >>
Digg
Facebook
Twitter
