A Million Little Pieces Revealed

From author/blogger Ron Franscell at http://underthenews.blogspot.com …

American literature — considered an oxymoron in the rest of the world — has gone downhill fast since New York surrendered America’s storytelling standards to Hollywood, where illusion — EVEN IN TRUE STORIES — is exactly the point. Today, the “perfect” story is determined by its film-worthiness more than its literary quality. In the name of creating Californicated literature, New York editors have blurred the line until even they don’t know what’s true. “It’s a good story,” they’ll say, “so who cares if it’s an utter and ballsy lie?”

I care. Capote admitted on the bookjacket that “In Cold Blood” was fictionalized in some part. Coleridge’s definition of fiction was “the willing suspension of disbelief.” What if it’s not willing? That’s the difference between making love and rape, albeit without either the exhilaration or violence. If you thought you were reading a true story, you were conned. What if we found out next week that the famous Zapruder film was, in fact, a Hollywood dramatization passed off as a real eyewitness home-movie and, oh, isn’t it funny how we fooled you??