Yet more on Frey: Talese vs. Talese

Admittedly, the Frey-on-Larry-King and the 11th hour appearance by Oprah proclaiming that she still luuuurves the book (and by extension, all her viewers are free to do so as well, cue the huge sigh of relief) takes center stage today, but I’m fascinated by the exchange the NYT included between Gay Talese, one of the founding fathers of New Journalism, and his wife Nan, publisher of her own imprint — the one that published A MILLION LITTLE PIECES.

Gay: “Nonfiction takes no liberty with the facts, and it should not,” Mr. Talese said. “I think all writers should be held accountable. The trouble with book publishers is that they don’t have the staff or they don’t want to have the staff to ensure the veracity of a writer. You could argue that they had better, or they’re going to have more stories like this one. My wife is going to hate me for this, but that is what I believe.”

Nan: “Nonfiction is not a single monolithic category as defined by the best-seller list. Memoir is personal recollection. It is not absolute fact. It’s how one remembers what happened. That is different from history and criticism and biography, and they cannot be measured by the same yardstick.”

And then, the kicker: “I adore Gay, but this is a debate that we’ve been having for 40 years.”

Don’t you just love having a window into a long-running marriage?

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