Week 7 Prompt Response

 Of the various novels named in Louis Menand’s article, “Literary Hoaxes and the Ethics of Authorship,” I was only familiar with two: James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces – from another class – and Go Ask Alice. Initially published as anonymous, Beatrice Sparks later claimed authorship of Go Ask Alice, Jay’s Journal, and many other books, often labeled as ‘diaries.’ Although this class focuses on adult patrons and novels for adults, and although Beatrice Sparks’ books were, and are, geared toward young adults, young adult novels still appeal to adults, regardless of age. Specifically, I want to discuss further the quote from Menand’s article, which states, “[t]he real author has not been conclusively established, but the copyright belonged to a Mormon therapist who claimed that she had merely edited a real Alice’s diary, which was under lock and key at the publisher’s” (Menand, 2018). I found an interesting article from 1979 in the School Library Journal, an article recounting an interview Alleen Pace Nilsen had with Beatrice Sparks about her book, Go Ask Alice, how the plot originated, why Sparks wrote it, and what qualifications she had as the author. According to Nilsen, despite marketing herself as a therapist, during the interview, Sparks provided no concrete “evidence of formal training or professional affiliation” (Nilsen, 1979, p. 110). Perhaps most problematic is that Go Ask Alice was based loosely on the life and death of “talk-show host Art Linkletter’s daughter Diane, [who,] barely 21, died by suicide in 1969 . . .” (Onion, 2022). However, Sparks’ book, Jay’s Journal, is even more damaging. 

As for Menands’ article and demonstrating the damage authorship under false pretenses, so to speak, can cause, I think Sparks’ book, Jay’s Journal, is a better representation of this type of harm. According to a Slate article written by Rebecca Onion, which, while admittedly, not the most credible—to clarify, I found few scholarly articles about Sparks or her works; if I had, I would have used them in my response—does incorporate other sources to bolster its argument. For example, Onion quotes Rick Emerson’s book, Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries, explaining that “Sparks used two dozen entries from Alden’s diary and then added 190 . . .” (Onion, 2022). Sparks’ choice to create a false narrative “was, for Alden’s family, catastrophic. They were ostracized in their town, and Alden’s gravestone was desecrated and stolen; the parents divorced, and the rest of the family scattered, leaving their community behind” (Onion, 2022). In response to Sparks’ work, Alden’s brother wrote a book called A Place in the Sun (Cep, 2022). His book about his brother, Alden, “reproduces images and transcripts of all the entries in Alden’s actual diary” (Onion, 2022). While Emerson provides valuable information for the reader in his book, an article from The New Yorker (also not the most credible source), critiques Emerson’s work as “dramatizing scenes and what he calls “inner monologues” without clear editorial markers or consistent sourcing” (Cep, 2022). 

References:

Cep, C. (2022, July 25). How a Mormon housewife turned a fake diary into an enormous best-seller. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/01/how-a-mormon-housewife-turned-a-fake-diary-into-an-enormous-best-seller

Menand, L. (2018, December 3). Literary hoaxes and the ethics of authorship. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/10/literary-hoaxes-and-the-ethics-of-authorship

Nilsen, A. P. (1979). School Library Journal, 26(2), 109.

 

Onion, R. (2022, August 2). The gothic fantasies of Beatrice Sparks. Slate. https://slate.com/culture/2022/08/go-ask-alice-why-a-mormon-mom-made-up-stories-of-teen-drugs-that-swept-america.html