Wow. I swear, that phrase was on the tip of my tongue, and I discover that it’s been said. By “the British writer and psychologist Anthony Daniels” (aka Theodore Dalrymple) and quoted in a Washington Post piece by Anne Applebaum, who notes that James Frey is only the newest in a history of lying memoirists:
These fabricators reinvent themselves not as heroes but as victims, a status they sometimes attain by changing their ethnicity. Among them are Bruno Grosjean, aka Binjamin Wilkomirski, whose touching, prize-winning, “autobiographical” tale of a childhood spent in the Majdanek concentration camp turned out to be the fantasy of the adopted son of a wealthy Swiss couple. Another was Helen Darville, aka Helen Demidenko, whose touching, prize-winning “autobiographical” tale of a Ukrainian girl whose father was a former SS officer turned out to be the fantasy of a middle-class British girl living in the suburbs of Brisbane, Australia.
Applebaum next mentions Nasdijj, who was outed last week by Matthew Fleisher at LA Weekly. Nasdiff — real name, Tim Barrus — had been posing as a Navajo memoirist. To much critical aclaim.
Fleisher interviews a real Navajo who mentions that Nasdijj isn’t even a real name in the Navajo tongue of Athabaskan. It’s gibberish.
Alrighty, then, here are my questions. What would drive a writer to assume the identity of a martyr in order to attract attention? Is it a variation of Munchausen syndrome? Or are these people simply afraid to achieve excellence as an expression of personal triumph? That is, is this a way for gifted writers to avoid feeling guilty about their gifts?
More posts on James Frey here, here, and here.
Update: Esquire wrote a piece on Barrus…
All societies have charltans, and they have their uses. As the shaping factors of a society evolve, the charltan adapt to mimc. You can tell what shapes a society by observing the shapeof the charltans. We have become of society of victims.
“What would drive a writer to assume the identity of a martyr in order to attract attention?”
Gee. Let me think… You don’t suppose it would have anything to do with $$, do you? We’re told that writing excellence doesn’t necessarily sell, but we all love to read about victims and martyrs and failures and…
Oh. Sorry. How oversimplifying and cynical of me.
John
lol
The thing is, I’m not sure money was the *primary* motivator . . .
Some people are psychopathic liars, whether the venue is used cars or publishing or tales to impress acquaintances.
If life does not present them with a drama, they will create one for themselves. Sometimes the fiction is a result of a profound contempt for others and the individuals glory in how easy it is to “fool” others.
The impersonator syndrome is not new either.