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Blogs by Peter F Klein
Fact or Fiction 3/10/2008 10:47:13 AM
Which is more truthful - fact or fiction? It seems hardly a month or two passes without some writer being called on the carpet for writing a book they claimed was factual (a memoir or autobiography) when the book was mostly or totally fiction.
So, one might argue, truth, at least so called truth, is stranger than fiction.
I guess there are authors and publishers who believe sales will be higher if the book is a "True Life" story.
That may be but not always so.
I guess fictionalized fact has been spurred by the success of "Reality" TV. Personally, I wouldn't know because I've never watched any of the "Reality" programs even once. I prefer fiction.
Fiction can often get at truths fact can never achieve. Fiction sometimes uses a fact or two but only to probe behind facts to find truths impossible to reveal by simply using facts.
A simple example, dare I say, is the Bible.
You have those who approach the Bible as though everything within it is fact. But with this approach, the deeper universal truths are often missed. Missing the universal truths can and does lead to a tragic end.
How so? When one believes this or that in the Bible is factually true but then thinks otherwise, they feel duped. They cry foul, "I've been lied too." But it was they who set themselves up. And the tragedy is that they throw the baby out with the dirty water because they were more interested in facts than the truth.
