So Much More Self There: Ander Monson on Truth in Nonfiction

Writer/Rose Metal editor Kathleen Rooney interviewed Ander Monson in Redivider some years ago, but we just ran across it this morning, and the interview is a fine one indeed. Monson never fails to be interesting, and Rooney keeps the questions sharp and focused.  Here, she asks, “Why does ‘truth’ matter in creative non-fiction? How does it matter? Does it matter?”

AM: It matters because readers feel like it matters. It matters because James Frey got bitch-slapped on national television, because JT LeRoy got sued. It matters because your dad doesn’t really want to show up in your essay. It matters because it’s harder for writers (or, well, me) to write nonfiction, or that it should be for all of us, because there’s so much more self there (especially in essay, and in memoir, don’t even get me started; perhaps we should just stop writing memoirs unless we are ready to sever most of our relationships with the people we write about). And because nonfiction comes without the shroud of invulnerability that fiction implies. The essay or the nonfiction book is about real people. It has claims on factual truth that nothing else does. And the people who show up in my, or anyone’s, nonfiction can track me down and tell me what they think. And they will.

The entire interview can be found right here: —Ander Monson, interviewed by Kathleen Rooney for Redivider