Believe it or Not!

I remember reading this article a year ago and thinking to myself what does this article miss or ignore? No fact checking which in turn is consequential to the reader and the expectations we may have. John D’Agata’s arrogance and how he wants us to judge his piece based on his artistic abilities and the relationship he wants with his readers. Say in the case of fiction, it convinces us that fake people matter. With nonfiction it is untrue until proven true.

In research, the legwork is done, we add the right details to spice up the recipe and arrange the words in a narrative that will make sense to the reader. So if D’Agata is caring about fictitious people or details that may have not been research thoroughly, what is his experience if all he wants to do is manipulate us? This reminds me a little of the “lyric essay.” This is place along the lines of Cicero through Michel de’ Montaigne. These gentlemen had no fact checkers in their lifetime. But yet, wrote about their own personal experiences. I guess ultimately the problem for me is that D’Agata surely has made it hard for him to be published to a wider audience and has lost the respect and credibility of his peers, a writer’s worst nightmare. Maybe he should stick with fiction it seems to fit his definition of writing.