The next sinking ship: The SS Augusten Burroughs- Page 2

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/28/06 at 10:15pm

You're working on the formula backwards, CM. The fact of the matter is, there really isn't much of a market for fiction. People just aren't interested. Consider the genre like movie musicals. Just pretty much dead.

Because of this, people began making up horrible stories of survival of abusive childhoods (this is generally the most important theme in the phony non-fiction) and the triumph against all odds. If these no-name (at the time) authors tried to peddle their work as novels, two things would happen. 1) People would say "sorry kid, unless you're JK Rowling or Stephen King, nobody cares," or 2) "Your fiction is WAY too over-the-top. Nobody would believe this crap in a million years. Disbelief can not be suspended this much."

And sooooooooooo, today's (or rather, up-until-last-month's) new fiction writers either stumbled upon the notion of, or were coerced into, swearing "Not only THAT, it's ALL TRUE and it HAPPENED to ME!"

That was the only way these books were going to see the light of day. And really, who would possibly question the motives of survivors of such horrific abuses and addictions that these poor making-it-against-the-odds writers had to endure?

This is one of the many dangers that comes from the deadly combination of identity politics, the culture of victimization, and (thank you Stephen Colbert) "truthiness."

[etoile]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 1:49am

"You know, very often people don't want to call more attention to themselves than the author who uses them as characters already has."

Such an interesting comment with a twist. Do you always subscribe to that belief?

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 2:10am

FindingNamo, that was very astute. A nicely depressing thought for me to think about on my way to bed. The world depresses me.


PS was A.B. ever endorsed by Oprah? Because all the hubbubbabaloo over Frey is because he was on Oprah and she slapped her name on his book.

[respeck]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 2:44am

He's not mainstream enough for Oprah at all! Getting blow jobs at 13 is not her thing.

A doctor who reads his own feces as a sign from God, also, not her thing.

[CostumeMistress]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 2:50am

well respek i wouldnt think that A Guy Who
Types
Like
This
would be th o's cup of Tea Tea Tea either
but.
i guess you never
know

!

[respeck]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 2:51am

Haha. Touche.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 9:21am

There was in interview with Augusten Burroughs in the Independent today in the UK. The article started with this "At the age of 12, his mother sent him to live with a deranged, scatalogically obsessed psychiatrist; he was fed drugs, sexually abused and became a vicious alcoholic. Now, his cult memoir has been taken up by Hollywood and Augusten Burroughs claims he is happy at last. But can you believe a word he says?"

Later on, the interviewer states "I don't doubt Burroughs on the defining issues of his childhood, like his being given away by his mother or his abuse at the hands of Bookman; he's just too livid about what happened to him."

He also notes the following "He has never called his work autobiography, but memoir, a term whose standard definition (an account based on the writer's knowledge of people, places and things) doesn't explicitly demand rigourous adherence to fact. "His life is in the books" is the phrase his publishers use. And real characters from his past have been duplicated or merged with others."

[jakebloke]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 9:38am

I loved his books. I read for entertainment mostly...and these did exactly that. I don't doubt that certain aspects have been embellished, and frankly I don't really care. I understand why it upsets some people. AB wrote some interesting, funny, sad pieces rolled up into one. It worked for me.
Shouldn't the publishers be taking a lot of blame for this? Basically they are putting it out there as a memoir.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 9:44am

Well also a backlash could be happening as people are confusing autobiography and memoir and thinking everything has to be absolutely 100% true, rather than truthy. The problem with Frey's "memoir" is it would seem it's too fictional to even be that.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 12:01pm

The AB books are faux John Irving Lite, a blend of curious exotica, eccentrics on parade, epater la bourgeoisie shock n'awe tactics, and an ill-defined but prominent central character, Burroughs himself--a man devoid of a purpose, and true compassion, but armed with cynicism and an always-distancing bitchy tongue. They are a good enough read, and I laughed often, but not only did they never remotely strike me as "memoirs," they pale next to one of his peer's, say, Sedaris. Personally, I'll take the fiction of Anne Tyler. She likes to write about funny people, too, but has a heart.

Updated On: 1/29/06 at 12:01 PM

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 12:03pm

Anne Tyler rules!

[CostumeMistress]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 3:31pm

now i think I I I want
to
type
like this all the
Time

!