The Tyee has published my article Pity the People in Richler's Embrace. Excerpt:
Is it really fiction if you just tell the story of your family and friends with their names changed?
Resemblance to real persons is entirely intentional
Countless writers, of course have done just that: Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, and Scott Fitzgerald, to name just three Americans. That's why books still have those little warnings to ward off libel suits: "Any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental."
Such books have become modern classics, solemnly taught to generations of college students. And plenty of pop songs have the same autobiographical theme: "You're So Vain" is supposed to be about Warren Beatty's priapic career, and "Julia" is John Lennon's homage to his mother.
I have two problems with such autobiographical fictions. First, they're an invasion of privacy. Second, they rely on our love of gossip rather than our love of truth.
Comments