Tracking the ever-elusive Great American Novel

[Paul Mackin]

On May 17, 2006, at 1:03 PM, Dave Monroe wrote:

> Tracking the ever-elusive Great American Novel
> By A.O. Scott The New York Times
>
> TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2006

(omitting all but one key sentence)

> Or, in
> the age of James Frey, reality television and phantom
> weapons of mass destruction, what do we mean by
> "fiction"?


In answer to A. O. Scott's question I would like to submit something  
from Pete Hamill's review of David Remnick's "Writings From the New  
Yorker"

Hamill:
And in [Remnick's] interview with Oz, the Israeli novelist and  
journalist, he is told: "I don't like to be described as an author of  
fiction. Fiction is a lie. James Joyce took the trouble, if I am not  
mistaken, to measure the precise distance from Bloom's basement  
entrance to the street above. In 'Ulysses' it is exact, and yet it is  
called fiction. But when a journalist writes, 'A cloud of uncertainty  
hovers . . .' — this is called fact!"

Me:
This is a very catchy statement by Oz.

Is it Oz's point that what we call fiction contains instances of fact  
and that what we call non-fiction contains a lot of fiction?

Does Oz not want to be called a fiction writer because it is  
tantamount to calling him a liar?

Anyone care to elaborate?






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