DEPT. OF THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING

This morning I was watching James Frey (I know, it's a sickness, I don't know why I do this to myself) on Tagged, Barnes & Noble's "weekly video series about what's new in the world of books" and nearly spit up my coffee when he made this stunning revelation: He doesn't read his own work. Ever.

Host Molly Pesce was aking him about his process and he answered that he writes 9 to 5. "I think of what I do as a job. Just like anybody else goes to work. I do." (A regular lunch-bucket guy that James Frey.)

But the shocker came when Pesce asked if he ever looked at his work the next day and went "blech!" (An astute reader that Molly Pesce). Here's what Frey had to say:

I don't ever read what I write. You know. I don't read it while I'm writing. I don't read it when I'm done. I've never--except for public events--I've never read my first two books. I've never read that one. I never will. I don't have really any interest.

Pesce's jaw hangs open for most of the exchange. "That's fascinating! That's really unbelievable!" she says, prompting Frey to continue:

I think if you read what you write you just want to change it. (Ed. Note: That's a good thing, Frey.) You get stuck in this trap where you never move forward. I try to make things what I want them to be the first time through.

While it's tempting to take Frey at his word that he doesn't read his own work or do any of the things that go with it (revising, rewriting, rethinking, caring), I call bullshit. I think Pesce had him pegged: it's unbelievable. Note his lack of eye contact with Pesce. Note the over-use of "ever" and "never," his need to speak in absolutes. Note the back-tracking and faltering speech. I think Frey is back to his old tricks. I think asking James Frey to be truthful is like asking Paris Hilton to keep her legs closed. Why should either change their behavior when it's paid off so handsomely?

Ultimately it doesn't matter if Frey's lying or telling the truth. If Frey says he's never read Bright Shiny Morning, why the hell should you?

Comments

[nk shapiro]

Wow, that is hilarious. You'd think a writer would lie the other way -- owning up to loads of hard work at revising stuff that is in reality merely dashed off and abandoned.

But maybe in today's world, or at least in the strange brain of Frey, it makes one seem more hip to claim to be a dash-off artist than to claim to be one who takes pains.

[whatever]

Well, having watched the clip as well, I have to say, in his defense, he claims to believe in the old Kerouac/Ginsberg canaard "first thought/best thought." That Kerouac spent two years rewriting On The Road, maybe Frey doesn't know about that, maybe it doesn't quite fit in with his ethos.

At the same time, he's trying to write a big sprawling book, a feat which demands a certain amount of organization and internal thought. My own guess is that "first thought/best thought" doesn't quite correspond with the type of structuring and planning that a big sprawling novel demands. Also you want to live with characters and get to the bottom of them for those types of novels, because we have to care enough to follow them through the sprawl.

Doesn't seem like the best idea to me, but then again, I'm not Janet Maslin so what do I know?

[Shya]

I don't know about it making him more hip, but it probably helps inure him to criticism.

[tod goldberg]

Just from a more pragmatic position, I call bullshit: He does have to go over the copyedits, the editorial margin comments, all that stuff when the book comes in from his publisher in the various stages of development. I suppose he could farm that sort of thing out, though I doubt it, and especially with his 1st book, which was before he was James Frey the Experience and was just James Frey that first time writer. And then lets not forget that he's a screenwriter, too -- I have to assume he rewrites and revises when he does that.

[martha southgate]

Couldn't have said it better myself, Mark. And on another note, sorry to hear about your sinuses. Get well soon.

[John Shannon]

What I wonder about is why the Times seems to feel a need to have yet another article or review or feature about Frey every day. Was it the million and a half bucks?

[Steven Augustine]

Maybe he *can't* read... has anyone considered that possibility?

[Jon]

Just confirms that he's both a compulsive liar and a bad writer.

So sad that any of us waste time on this. Myself included - a little.

[Dave]

Bullshit. But didn't Dave Eggers say something similar about Heartbreaking Work? Something about not rereading sections? Maybe he meant he didn't edit some of the more po-mo stream of consciousness paragraphs (if I'm even remembering right), and that's still a far cry from what Frey is claiming.

[whatever]

Again, in the clip, he says that he rewrites what his editor tells him to look at. Presumably this statement could cover rewrites, proofs, and first pass. This doesn't seem like the most prudent way of treating your work, and it's pretty much inconceivably, as fucktard said, that he would have had such a cavalier attitude about his first book. But it's possible.

[tod goldberg]

I like that I am now just "fucktard" -- I'm not opposed to it, but I suspect my wife might start being upset with being married to Fucktard when she's grown so accustomed to Idiot...

[Justin Griffeth]

I don't know if it's already been mentioned, but Vanity Fair did an interesting bit on Frey: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/06/frey200806. It's a look at the behind-the-scenes from his point of view, and, hey, he's human just like the rest of us and the characters in our favorite books who are neither good nor evil. I haven't read either book, nor am I a fan, but why not give it a look?

[Steven Augustine]

"I haven't read either book, nor am I a fan, but why not give it a look?"

Why not shower with cat vomit?

[MissVolare]

Jeepers! He must be Ironman! The most unbelievable part is the "9-5" quote. I have never heard of a writer able to sustain that kind of endurance, not even Simenon or my buddy bill.

[barry graham]

of course its bullshit. everything that comes out of a writer's mouth concerning their own fiction and process is BS. its part of the fiction. but you know, i know, this is what he wants. this conversation. and we all gave it to him.

[Justin Griffeth]

I haven't showered with cat vomit. Never had quite enough on hand at any given time.

I was suggesting reading the article, not the books.

[Steven Augustine]

"I haven't showered with cat vomit. Never had quite enough on hand at any given time."

There are two ways of doing it; the first (and the easiest)involves having a very close friend eat a very large cat...

[frebcgt]

I've read the Vanity Fair article and was apalled by how sympathetic it was. The author seemed to fall for the idea that just because Frey has some "cool friends, he is somehow a good writer or absolved from the literary crimes he's committed-- you know, being an utterly cheesy writer who mined other people's pain for fun and profit.

[Ian Wilson]

At last, a Mozart of literature who takes dictation directly from god which requires neither perusal nor revision. Any typos are heaven-sent. All mistakes divine. Now I understand why the first book was called memoir instead of fiction. Too bad Oprah didn't realize she was dealing with a messenger instead of a mere man. That's a lot of m-m-m-m-s.