VIDEO: The Question of Nonfiction

FROM JAMES FREY TO MIKE DAISEY the issue of truth in nonfiction continues to be a source of angst, perturbation, inquiry, fun, argument, and discussion.  Here a few authors have a quick say, in a series of LARB One-Minute Films, by novelists Aimee Bender and Janet Fitch, and four wrtiers who work in both fiction and nonftiction:  Laila Lalami, Mark Haskell Smith, Paul Mandelbaum, and Seth Greenland.

AIMEE BENDER

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me6eN7G8z1E&t=5s[/embed]

Some find the argument that fidelity to fact is the essence of nonfiction, including the memoir, to be an impossible and perhaps uninteresting goal; some, like Seth Greenland, find our culture's inability to agree on the solidity of fact to be a sign of the apocalypse.

SETH GREENLAND

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPVc6jDSgVo

Among the recent books on the subject, the one that has caused the most recent hubbub is The Lifespan of a Fact by John D'Agata and Jim Fingal; a couple years ago it was Reality Hunger by David Shields.  We have links reviews of these books in the right column.

LAILA LALAMI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM7OSngkLIc

PAUL MANDELBAUM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuKiSKXid2k

JANET FITCH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmUWdLV_Ars

Music on all videos:  Performed by Tom McDermott, Courtesy of Bananastan Records and Van Dyke Parks