Literary fact versus fiction

Re “Consequences of a hoax,” editorial, March 6

What is so infuriating about the outrageously fabricated memoir of Margaret Seltzer is that she reduces opportunity, just as author James Frey did with his false story of addiction, for those of us who really have been traumatized by drug-addicted mothers, schizophrenic fathers and poverty, and were actually part of the Los Angeles County foster care system. I was in three foster homes, a continuation of the hell I lived with my mother in the San Fernando Valley. Having survived to become a high-functioning member of society, I have thought often of writing a memoir. But morally bankrupt individuals like Seltzer make it harder for others to tell their stories of survival. For her to even consider she understands those situations is the height of arrogant indecency.

Michael Bolger

San Diego

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Re “The lure of made-up memoirs,” Opinion, March 5

Publishers can’t afford to do serious fact checking? Some online inquiries and phone calls would have unearthed at least some of the duplicity involved. Yes, some information is now protected; even more is ridiculously accessible. Her sister outed her. Perhaps the faux author’s real story may be more interesting and less physically bloody than the “memoirs.”

Claiming that there is a “paucity of real literature based on our most urgent urban experiences” denies the plethora of journalism that, in fact, overwhelms more balanced coverage of “real” life.

I remember clearly an argument almost 20 years ago with some journalist friends who believed a writer’s account of an 8-year-old heroin addict in Washington but not the denials of the police chief or other officials who asked for proof. What do our beliefs tell us about our own lies?

Kaye Pullen

Philadelphia