Edited by Jill Bialosky, 'The Lifespan of A Fact' (2012) is a book written by Jim Fingal to document his fact-checking of John d'Agata's essay, 'What Happens There' (2003). The essay discussed about the 2002 suicide of 16-year-old Levi Presley in Nevada, Las Vegas, and the city's high suicide rate of teenagers. Commissioned by Harper's Magazine in 2003, John d'Agata's essay was then pulled when editors and the author disagreed over the essay's literary approach, which seemed to have taken too much liberty with facts. There was much debate about creative licenses and the definition of non-fiction in an investigative essay.
The Believer accepted John d'Agata's essay, but didn't publish it immediately. They only published it after an epic seven years. An edited and fact-checked version was finally published in the magazine in 2010. In the intervening years of 2003 and 2010, The Believer had hired their intern, a then-fresh Harvard graduate Jim Fingal to fact-check the original essay. That really took seven years and a ton of arguments between fact-checker and author. Jim Fingal is now a programmer living in San Francisco. (Reviews for 'The Lifespan of a Fact' are here, here and here.)
The Washington Post's Justin Moyer wrote a review of the book 'The Lifespan of a Fact', published on April 20, 2012. He highlighted this part,
In October 2018, 'The Lifespan of a Fact' was written into a script by Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and Gordon Farrell, and adapted into a Broadway play. Last weekend, we got to watch the local adaptation of it at the Singapore Repertory Theatre. We've had so many gigs canceled and tickets refunded that our schedules suddenly freed up. Sad. We were looking forward to catching Jimmy Eat World and Slipknot. At least this play was still going on, except with stern warnings of travel restrictions and personal hygiene.
This was a very enjoyable staging. I was rather engaged for all 90 minutes. We picked the matinee since that would free us up for the evenings to maximize the weekend. Also, that would help clear any brain fog brought on by sheer tiredness at the end of the day since I would need some brain cells to be awake to process the lines and what they fully meant. I've avoided reading the book because I thought it too cerebral. Hahaha. Maybe I'll go borrow it at the library next week.
Jamil Schulze (Jim Fingal), Ghafir Akbar (John d'Agata) and Janice Koh (The Believer's editor, Emily Penrose) play the three roles. No complaints about the acting for sure. They wore their characters fine. There were plenty of well-timed comic pauses for effect and very believable accents. They brought out the humor and raised pertinent questions about fact vs creative liberties.
On a personal note, I don't see an essay as fiction or as a way to stretch facts. Facts are facts and while one could skirt around it, altering it is a big no-no. An essay and a journalistic opinion should have few differences and little conflicts when it comes to story angles. An essayist and a journalist should hold the integrity of their chosen profession high, and only the former would have space to expound on some thoughts and think about 'perhaps' and 'what ifs'. A journalist doesn't have that luxury, and would still have to furnish exact details.
The Believer accepted John d'Agata's essay, but didn't publish it immediately. They only published it after an epic seven years. An edited and fact-checked version was finally published in the magazine in 2010. In the intervening years of 2003 and 2010, The Believer had hired their intern, a then-fresh Harvard graduate Jim Fingal to fact-check the original essay. That really took seven years and a ton of arguments between fact-checker and author. Jim Fingal is now a programmer living in San Francisco. (Reviews for 'The Lifespan of a Fact' are here, here and here.)
The Washington Post's Justin Moyer wrote a review of the book 'The Lifespan of a Fact', published on April 20, 2012. He highlighted this part,
“This is an essay, so journalistic rules don’t belong here,” writes D’Agata, who says he altered numbers and names for “rhythm” or to appeal to “readers who care about interesting sentences and the metaphorical effect that the accumulation of those sentences achieve.” He concludes: “It shouldn’t need a fact-checker.”
Fingal replies: “I applaud anyone’s search for The Truth, The Artistic Truth, or any other kind of Truth that you can finagle this argument to be about, but when you change the factual qualities of a thing to suit your own artistic interests, you’re creating something that never existed.”
In October 2018, 'The Lifespan of a Fact' was written into a script by Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and Gordon Farrell, and adapted into a Broadway play. Last weekend, we got to watch the local adaptation of it at the Singapore Repertory Theatre. We've had so many gigs canceled and tickets refunded that our schedules suddenly freed up. Sad. We were looking forward to catching Jimmy Eat World and Slipknot. At least this play was still going on, except with stern warnings of travel restrictions and personal hygiene.
This was a very enjoyable staging. I was rather engaged for all 90 minutes. We picked the matinee since that would free us up for the evenings to maximize the weekend. Also, that would help clear any brain fog brought on by sheer tiredness at the end of the day since I would need some brain cells to be awake to process the lines and what they fully meant. I've avoided reading the book because I thought it too cerebral. Hahaha. Maybe I'll go borrow it at the library next week.
Jamil Schulze (Jim Fingal), Ghafir Akbar (John d'Agata) and Janice Koh (The Believer's editor, Emily Penrose) play the three roles. No complaints about the acting for sure. They wore their characters fine. There were plenty of well-timed comic pauses for effect and very believable accents. They brought out the humor and raised pertinent questions about fact vs creative liberties.
On a personal note, I don't see an essay as fiction or as a way to stretch facts. Facts are facts and while one could skirt around it, altering it is a big no-no. An essay and a journalistic opinion should have few differences and little conflicts when it comes to story angles. An essayist and a journalist should hold the integrity of their chosen profession high, and only the former would have space to expound on some thoughts and think about 'perhaps' and 'what ifs'. A journalist doesn't have that luxury, and would still have to furnish exact details.
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