Week 7 Prompt: Superfudged: 5 Hoax Memoirs Still Worth Reading
The article by Jeff Somers was interesting. I'm aware that these types of works exist but I've never read any that I know of. Embellishment is something we all do at times, we all just hope we don't get caught. When a title doesn't cause harm to others like Frey's A Million Little Pieces, Charrière's Papillon, and Spark's Go Ask Alice what's the harm. Particularly if there are important lessons that can be learned from the work.
McArthy's Odd Man Out is interesting. If you're going to shamelessly lie don't name names. Otherwise you're going to be fact checked as he was. I would find the situation more humorous if not for the possibility of harm to the reputations of those he lied about. Especially if they were associated with racism or drug use. In a 2009 article in the New York Times Benjamin Hill and Alan Schwarz state;
"McCarthy directly quotes people stating incorrect facts about their own lives and tells detailed (and mostly unflattering) stories about teammates who were in fact not on his team at the time."
(2009)
Definitely not cool.
Monk's The Awful Disclosures was a total hit job on the Catholic church written during a period of anti-Catholic nativism. When viewed through a historical lens it is testament to fear and hatred. It reminds me of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion designed to feed the ignorance of the prejudiced. These types of works can inspire people to do terrible things.
I'm intrigued by Dale's The Hand that Signed the Paper. Some Ukrainians did view the Germans as a better alternative to Stalin's communism and antisemitism was a problem. Because there are some historical grains of truth this title could fit into historical fiction. This title piques my interest. I would like to read it for myself.
Sources
Hill, B. & Schwarz, A. (2009). Errors Cost Doubt on a Baseball Memoir. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/sports/baseball/03book.html
Hughes, M. (n.d.) The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk. Retrieved from https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~traister/hughes.html
The Public Domain Review. (n.d.). Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk (1836). Retrieved from https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/awful-disclosures-of-maria-monk-1836/
McArthy's Odd Man Out is interesting. If you're going to shamelessly lie don't name names. Otherwise you're going to be fact checked as he was. I would find the situation more humorous if not for the possibility of harm to the reputations of those he lied about. Especially if they were associated with racism or drug use. In a 2009 article in the New York Times Benjamin Hill and Alan Schwarz state;
"McCarthy directly quotes people stating incorrect facts about their own lives and tells detailed (and mostly unflattering) stories about teammates who were in fact not on his team at the time."
(2009)
Definitely not cool.
Monk's The Awful Disclosures was a total hit job on the Catholic church written during a period of anti-Catholic nativism. When viewed through a historical lens it is testament to fear and hatred. It reminds me of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion designed to feed the ignorance of the prejudiced. These types of works can inspire people to do terrible things.
I'm intrigued by Dale's The Hand that Signed the Paper. Some Ukrainians did view the Germans as a better alternative to Stalin's communism and antisemitism was a problem. Because there are some historical grains of truth this title could fit into historical fiction. This title piques my interest. I would like to read it for myself.
Sources
Hill, B. & Schwarz, A. (2009). Errors Cost Doubt on a Baseball Memoir. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/sports/baseball/03book.html
Hughes, M. (n.d.) The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk. Retrieved from https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~traister/hughes.html
The Public Domain Review. (n.d.). Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk (1836). Retrieved from https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/awful-disclosures-of-maria-monk-1836/
Somers, Jeff. (2017) 5 Hoax Memoirs Still Worth Reading.
Retrieved from
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/5-hoax-memoirs-still-worth-reading/
Great job! I like that you bring up several books and discuss the harm vs. lying with each of them. There is a difference! Full points and great insight!
ReplyDeleteGood job on this assignment, had not known about the book by McCarthy and I am definitely in agreement that this is a book that should be checked out, but one definitely does need to appreciate the lies and potential of ruining another individual's reputation. You did well with summarizing the finer points of these works, why they should be checked out, but do pointpoint why these authors were so shameful in what they did within these works.
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