John D'Agata,Jim Fingal
Now a Broadway Play.,An innovative essayist and his fact-checker do battle about the use of truth and the definition of nonfiction.,How negotiable is a fact? In 2003, after publishing his book of experimental essays, ,Halls of Fame,, John Dâ€™Agata was approached by ,Harperâ€™s, magazine to write an essay for them, one that was eventually rejected due to disagreements related to its fact checking. That essay which eventually became the foundation of Dâ€™Agataâ€™s critically acclaimed ,About a Mountain, was accepted by another magazine, the ,Believer,, but not before they handed it to their own fact-checker, Jim Fingal. What resulted from that assignment, and beyond the essayâ€™s eventual publication in the magazine, was seven years of arguments, negotiations, and revisions as Dâ€™Agata and Fingal struggled to navigate the boundaries of literary nonfiction.,This book includes an early draft of Dâ€™Agataâ€™s essay, along with Dâ€™Agata and Fingalâ€™s extensive discussion around the text. What emerges is a brilliant and eye-opening meditation on the relationship between â€œtruthâ€ and â€œaccuracyâ€ and a penetrating conversation about whether it is appropriate for a writer to substitute one for the other.
Nonfiction,Writing,Essays,Language,Writing,Writing,Journalism,Writing,Books About Books,Plays,Philosophy,Criticism,Literary Criticism,Humanities,Language,Academic
The Lifespan of a Fact