Truth in Nonfiction

Even before the controversy that surrounded the publication ofA Million Little Pieces, the question of truth has been at the heart of memoir. From Elie Wiesel to Benjamin Wilkomirski to David Sedaris, the veracity of writersrs" claims have been suspect. In this fascinating and timely collection of essays, leading writers meditate on the subject of truth in literary nonfiction. As David Lazar writes in his introduction, "How do we verify? Do we care to? (Do we dare to eat the apple of knowledge and say itrs"s true? Or is it a peach?) Do we choose to? Is it a subcategory of faith? How do you respond when someone says, ls"This is really truers"? Why do they choose to say it then?" The past and the truth are slippery things, and the art of nonfiction writing requires the writer to shape as well as explore. In personal essays, meditations on the nature of memory, considerations of the genres of memoir, prose poetry, essay, fiction, and film, the contributors to this provocative collection attempt to find answers to the question of what truth in nonfiction means. Contributors: John Drs"Agata, Mark Doty, Su Friedrich, Joanna Frueh, Ray Gonzaacute;lez, Vivian Gornick, Barbara Hammer, Kathryn Harrison, Marianne Hirsch, Wayne Koestenbaum, Leonard Kriegel, David Lazar, Alphonso Lingis, Paul Lisicky, Nancy Mairs, Nancy K. Miller, Judith Oritz Cofer, Phyllis Rose, Oliver Sacks, David Shields, and Leo Spitzer

David Lazar is the director of the nonfiction writing program at Columbia College Chicago, a professor in the Department of English, and the editor of Hotel Amerika. He is the author of The Body of Brooklyn (Iowa, 2003), Michael Powell: Interviews, Conversations with M.F.K. Fisher, and a book of prose poems, Powder Town. Four of his essays have been named Notable Essays of the Year by Best American Essays.