James Frey is only the latest in along string of authors and memoirists recently exposed for fabricating all or part of their supposedly non-fiction work. But how much responsibility should a publisher bear for fact-checking such works? After all, memoirs are by definition works of personal memory, and as such, are often difficult to verify. Still, some literary agents and publishers are saying that the Frey Affair has been a major wake-up call for the industry.
Tag: 01.28.06
Bringing Mozart Home
Thousands gathered on Friday in Salzburg, Austria, for the culmination of the worldwide celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Vienna Philharmonic performed, with Riccardo Muti on the podium and mezzo Cecilia Bartoli standing in for the hastily dismissed Renee Fleming. “There is much around Salzburg at the moment that smacks of unabashed exploitation of a composer whose relationship with it was, to put it mildly, ambivalent. But these concerts seemed to be genuine efforts to do right by the essence of Mozart.”