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This is NOT my piece of creative and intellectual property. It comes from the HarperCollins web site for "A Series of Unfortunate Events". (In light of the conversation I'm starting, I figured honesty is the best policy.)
I was thinking about "Unfortunate Events" today. Thinking about the books themselves -- of which there are about to be 13 -- and about their something-of-a-mystery author, Lemony Snicket. Lemony probably came to mind in reaction to the brouhaha over James Frey fabricating parts of his "nonfiction" bestseller, "A Million Little Pieces." (Google this real winner's name for acres of news coverage. Great background comes from the article "Oprah's Book Flub" at Salon.com. Oh, and Tim Carvell has a tasty, sharp-and-snarky op-ed piece about the book in the 1-11-06 NYTimes. It's called "A Million Little Corrections.")
So I was just wondering, if one must be a literary scam, why can't one be a Lemony Snicket scammer? That way, no one gets hurt and the kids have something good to read in the meantime.
'Cause, clearly, folks, LEMONY SNICKET is not his real name! (Actually, it's Daniel Handler.) All I'm saying is that some fabrications can serve the cause of the writing, and some cannot. And a MEMOIR, for Pete's sake, cannot be served by the kind of gross exaggeration and inattention to honesty Mr. Frey perpetuated. Self-serving ass.
That's all I have to have.
I was thinking about "Unfortunate Events" today. Thinking about the books themselves -- of which there are about to be 13 -- and about their something-of-a-mystery author, Lemony Snicket. Lemony probably came to mind in reaction to the brouhaha over James Frey fabricating parts of his "nonfiction" bestseller, "A Million Little Pieces." (Google this real winner's name for acres of news coverage. Great background comes from the article "Oprah's Book Flub" at Salon.com. Oh, and Tim Carvell has a tasty, sharp-and-snarky op-ed piece about the book in the 1-11-06 NYTimes. It's called "A Million Little Corrections.")
So I was just wondering, if one must be a literary scam, why can't one be a Lemony Snicket scammer? That way, no one gets hurt and the kids have something good to read in the meantime.
'Cause, clearly, folks, LEMONY SNICKET is not his real name! (Actually, it's Daniel Handler.) All I'm saying is that some fabrications can serve the cause of the writing, and some cannot. And a MEMOIR, for Pete's sake, cannot be served by the kind of gross exaggeration and inattention to honesty Mr. Frey perpetuated. Self-serving ass.
That's all I have to have.
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