Humanities faculty member Annjeanette Wiese's book releases October 1. 听
Narrative Truthiness听explores the complex nature of truth by adapting Stephen Colbert鈥檚 concept of truthiness (which on its own repudiates complexity) into something nuanced and positive, what Annjeanette Wiese calls 鈥渘arrative truthiness.鈥� Narrative truthiness holds on to the importance of facts while complicating them by looking at different types of truth, as well as the complexity, contradictions, and consequences of truth in the context of human experience.
Wiese uses narrative theory to analyze several examples of hybrid (non)fiction: works that refuse to exist as either fiction or nonfiction alone and that challenge monolithic definitions of truth. She examines memoirs by Lauren Slater, Michael Ondaatje, Binjamin Wilkomirski, Tim O鈥橞rien; fiction by Julian Barnes, Richard Powers, W. G. Sebald;听Onion听headlines; comics and graphic memoirs by Joe Sacco, Art Spiegelman, and David Small; and fake news.
Narrative Truthiness听foregrounds the complexity that is inherent in human understanding and experience and in the process demonstrates the significance of the complex tensions between what we feel to be true and what is true, and how we are shaped by both.
Praise for the book:
鈥淏eautifully written,听Narrative Truthiness听takes the reader on a trip through lies, hoaxes, satire, the search for origins, the fabrication of memories, the construction of the verisimilar, and鈥攖hrough all these narrative modes and themes鈥攖he quest for authenticity. Wiese makes a powerful plea in favor of a literary conception of truth that acknowledges the complexity of truth and does not limit it to the accurate presentation of facts, without, however, rejecting any kind of factuality.鈥濃�擬arie-Laure Ryan, coeditor of听Possible Worlds Theory and Contemporary Narratology
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鈥�Narrative Truthiness听provides a new window into thinking about the interactions between fact and fiction, and how we need one to understand the other, through a focus on texts that straddle the line between representative and fictional narrative. It is well researched and theoretically sophisticated.鈥濃�擬arjorie Worthington, author of听The Story of 鈥淢e鈥�: Contemporary American Autofiction
