Take one Sedaris, add microscope
In the latest controvery involving alleged literary fabrication -- one that frankly is dripping out rather than rolling out, an article by Alex Heard in The New Republic of March 19 has fired a broadside of 10-pounders across the bow of author David Sedaris, accusing him of making up far more in his enormously popular comedic stories than he lets on. Sedaris himself has often said he embellishes a good tale, but Heard contends that Sedaris does more, that some of his pieces are nearer fiction than reality, and that they'd likely be labeled that way if it wouldn't hurt sales.
The mainstream press mostly has given this "he said, he said" contretemps a good leaving alone, and its footprints are hard to track. But you can get a sense of Heard's piece here (even though most of it is behind a firewall), and a stinging response from Sedaris deep inside this Newsday article.
