Fact v. Fiction in Autobiographies: The Million Little Pieces Effect

It is easy to draw comparisons between Augustine's Confessions and Ellison's Invisible Man. As Professor Jackson said, they both were "written in a retrospective way, they are recalling past events and imbuing them with a significance that they might not have had at the time. In addition, both write autobiographically, in the first person; the main actor is "I" in each work." However, the significant difference, that one is fact and the other fiction, creates a rift between these two works in the parameters in which they can be effective. The limitation on Augustine's work is that his teaching stories and remembrances must be confined to the truth. On the other hand, Ellison is not confined to the truth and may twist his story here and there to convey his intended meaning. However, if Ellison crosses the line of believability, he loses his audience who would perceive it as ridiculous. Augustine can cross this line (though he does not really do so) because it simply makes his story more magnificent. Though if either stray too far from fact in their autobiographical works, they risk what I like to call the Million Little Pieces Effect.

The Millions Little Pieces Effect occurs when one's fact-based book or story strays so from fact so as to be unbelievable, yet, based on its genre, people believe it for a while. Eventually the story comes out, however, and the potential that the book would have had is a true piece of fiction is destroyed by the public outrage at it being published as fact or near-fact.

Based on these past couple of paragraphs, one can see where this blog is leading. Of course it makes a difference if something is fact or fiction. Fiction has potential that fact does not and vis versa. However, fact has the potential to make the unbelievable amazing, while fiction only makes it annoying. Had Augustine's work been a novel, it would have lacked any of the conversion power that it held as a true and amazing account of his life. Likewise, if Ellison's work was pure fact, it would be controversial to a fault, embarrassing and incriminating for those involved, and very likely repulsive to much of the general public. The fictional mask that it puts on allows Invisible Man to teach a lesson to all those who read it without bringing in the obvious extra issues that a true personal history would entail.