For Immediate Release
Lars Eighner
lars@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Statement about TRAVELS WITH LIZBETH
from Lars Eighner
In 1993, my memoir TRAVELS WITH LIZBETH was issued by St.
Martin's Press and subsequently a paperback edition was
issued by Fawcett. There were British, Italian, and Danish
editions. It appears to me that the British edition was
produced directly or indirectly from the St. Martin's
plates, and many corrections of minor typos were introduced
in the Fawcett edition. I am in no position to vouch for
the accuracy of the translations.
Parts of TRAVELS WITH LIZBETH in various forms and drafts
had previously appeared in THE THREEPENNY REVIEW, in
HARPER'S, and in numerous periodicals. Subsequent to the
publication of the book, parts of it have been widely
anthologized.
In view of recent events, I have the following statement to
make about TRAVELS WITH LIZBETH and the various parts and
drafts which have appeared in print:
TRAVELS WITH LIZBETH is a memoir that was and is as
factually correct and accurate as I could make it. It
contains no composite characters or exaggerated or imagined
episodes. It was and is a work of nonfiction as truthful
as I knew how to make it.
Two errors of fact in various drafts have been called to my
attention. First, early drafts gave the name of the
originator of the Dumpster as Mr. Dempsey. That was
incorrect. His name was Dempster, and this correction was
made, I believe, before the relevant part was published in
book form. Second, although I wrote that I did not qualify
for food stamps, I have been told by someone who was
familiar with the regulations as they were then that I was
in fact qualified according to the published regulations. I
should have written that when I applied at two food stamp
offices I was told by the persons working in each office
that I was not qualified, which is what actually occurred.
I regret these errors. I would not be surprised to
discover there were a few more errors of a similar degree
of relevance to the narrative as a whole.
In addition, I am aware that in connection with a few
events that I related, other people who were present did
not agree with my perception or characterization of what
had happened. I suppose that everyone realizes that in
actual events there are often as many different accounts,
or more, as there are witnesses. While journalists are
obliged to seek out as many different perspectives as
possible and to re****t them all as fairly as possible, I do
not believe a memorialist is obliged to go beyond giving as
honest an account of his own side of the story as possible.
In particular, I am aware that the attendant of the blind
student who was involved in the incident that resulted in
my dog Lizbeth being impounded has a very different account
of that event than I do and sees himself in a very
different light than I did. I told my side of the story,
and I do not believe that it was my duty as a memorialist
to seek out and re****t his or anyone else's.
Likewise, I do not doubt that many people who appeared in
TRAVELS WITH LIZBETH saw themselves differently than I saw
them, and perceived events in their own ways from their own
perspectives. I believe these kinds of differences are
inherent in the form and that it is asking the impossible to
suppose that a memorialist is not to some degree biased by
a charitable view of himself and his own interests.
Moreover, I think having a particular point of view of
events which actually happened and presenting that point of
view of events which actually happened is very different
from inventing events of whole cloth or presenting imagined
events as having really occurred.
In composing TRAVELS WITH LIZBETH I had access to many
drafts that had been sent to others for safekeeping and to
copies of many long letters I had written contem****aneously
with the events in the book. This was very helpful in
checking the accuracy of my memory. Nonetheless, as I
wrote in the text, I was not always able to be certain I
knew the order of some events. I found it convenient to
group some events by subject in order to make the narrative
coherent. No finite work can give a complete account of
all the occurrences in a lengthy period of time, and there
is an inherent bias in any literary work that is entailed
in the choice of when to begin it and when to end it and
which episodes to include. Literature is an inherently
linear form and experience is irreducibly nonlinear. Some
of these limitations are discussed at greater length in my
preface.
I was not present for some of the events that I wrote about
in TRAVELS WITH LIZBETH. I tried to attribute explicitly
those I was told about and to explicitly identify parts
that were surmise about things outside of my own
experience. It is possible that I did not always manage to
indicate the surmise and hearsay quite clearly.
Nonetheless, I was present for events in which I ****trayed
myself as being present and recounted those as honestly and
accurately as I know how.
I expressed opinions on a number of issues and subjects
other than the events I experienced. Although I find in
time that I often disagree with myself, I do not expect to
be disputed in having given an honest account of my
opinions insofar as I knew what they were.
I am grateful for the many kindnesses that were shown to me
and my work by people in the publi****ng industry, and I
want to say to them, and even to those critics who did not
receive my work so well: I did not betray your trust. I
wrote as well as I could the truth that I knew as well as I
could. I did not expect to avoid mistakes entirely, and I
did not avoid mistakes entirely, but I did not lie to you.
Thank you for your faith in me, and especially thank you
for your honest criticism, whether positive or negative or
something in between. Certainly my life before and after
the book has not been entirely admirable and unblemished,
but you will never need to be embarrassed for believing
what I wrote in the book, if you did believe.
In issuing this statement, I speak only for myself and not
for any editor, publisher, critic, anthologist, or anyone
else who has been connected with my work.
---XXX---
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Lars Eighner usenet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.larseighner.com/
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