Sedaris (sort of) on Sedaris
April 19th, 2007 by max linsky in Books
Milwaukee’s alt-weekly, Shepherd Express, just did a cover story on David Sedaris, who came under fire a few weeks back for embellishing his stories. Cooper wasn’t happy, but the Shep seemed to be okay with it.
If The New Republic was hoping for a James Frey-styled takedown of Sedaris, however, they didn’t get it. Published last month under the headline “This American Lie,” Heard’s article was received coldly by readers who, given the sensational title, perhaps expected more smoking guns. The Washington Post’s Peter Carlson deemed the piece “truly ridiculous.”
“Brace yourself now,” he wrote, unveiling his summary of Heard’s conclusion: “Sedaris exaggerates for comic effect!
“I’m shocked,” Carlson added, “shocked!”
Sedaris has also brushed off the article.
“For as long as I’ve been going on these tours and publishing books, people have asked, ‘Is every word of what you write true?’” he says. “And I always say, ‘No, I exaggerate like crazy.’ And I’ve said that in interviews, and I’ve said that on stage, and I’ve said it over and over and over again. This guy wrote this article saying, ‘He exaggerates!’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I told you I did.’”
There’s a Q&A as well, which doesn’t delve to deeply (read: at all) into the issue, but that ommission makes the point just the same. Sedaris to Coop: calm down.
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April 19th, 2007 at 9:17 am
Coop to Sedaris: If all you did was exaggerate for comic effect, it would be one thing, but the “New Republic” piece reports that you invented entire incidents. Not exactly the textbook definition of “exaggeration.”
I’ve been marinating on this issue, and I guess my problem with what Brian wrote in response to my earlier post was that Sedaris defenders want to have it both ways. They claim that everybody knew all along that it was made up and exaggerated. Fair enough. But then you can’t argue that the “true-life” nature of the stories makes them better than if they were labeled as “fiction.” Why do readers react “OMG! That really happened!” if they supposedly knew all along that it didn’t?
April 19th, 2007 at 9:18 am
And, by the way, that “Shep” piece’s look at the controversy is pretty lightweight. “It’s no big deal, because hey, Sedaris told me so!”