Ethics Newsline®

Another critically acclaimed memoir is exposed as a hoax

NEW YORK
The publishing industry had an unwelcome moment of déjà vu last week when it was revealed that the book Love and Consequences, a purported memoir, is a hoax.

USA Today reports that the book, written by Margaret Seltzer of Eugene, Oregon, under the pseudonym Margaret B. Jones, was purported to be a factual account of the woman’s life as she grew up in a foster home in South-Central Los Angeles and gravitated into a street gang.

After reading a newspaper account of the book, Seltzer’s sister called the publisher to say the account was untrue.

Seltzer later admitted the book was a fabrication, the Oregonian reports.

The news came just days after author Misha Defonseca, who wrote a Holocaust memoir about her childhood traveling alone through war-torn Europe and living in the forest with wolves, admitted her story was faked. Library Journal reports that Defonseca is not Jewish and lived in Brussels during the war.

In a statement issued through her lawyer, Defonseca said, “I find it difficult to differentiate between reality and my inner world. The story in the book is mine. It is not the actual reality — it was my reality, my way of surviving. I ask forgiveness from all those who feel betrayed,” according to the Library Journal report.

Both incidents came about two years after the literary world was rocked by the revelation that James Frey, the author of the bestselling memoir A Million Little Pieces, had exaggerated or made up many of the book’s details.

In an editorial, the Christian Science Monitor noted that literary hoaxes and other examples of fabrication might prompt the cynical to believe that nothing they read can be trusted. However, argues the unbylined editorial, “signs abound that people actually do care about integrity in communication.”

“What else explains the trend in anti-plagiarism software, ethics courses in business schools, or character education in classrooms? Or the ‘truth boxes’ published by the media that catch mischaracterizations and campaign fibs? Or firings for bogus credentials in academia and business?” it continued. “The truth is, truth matters…. As individuals and as a society, we lose our bearings when we compromise on truth.”

Sources: Oregonian, Mar. 8 — Library Journal, Mar. 7 — USA Today, Mar. 5.

For more information, see: Related Newsline Commentary, Feb. 25 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 27, 2006 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 30, 2006 — Related Newsline Commentary, Jan. 16, 2006 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 16, 2006 — Christian Science Monitor editorial, Mar. 7.