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January 18, 2006
You Heard it Here First
A few years ago, we had a controversy over where to shelve Elie Wiesel's book, Night. A student came in looking for the book and was upset to learn that it was shelved in the fiction section. As so often happens when I read a great book, I wished that I could speak with the author personally to ask his opinion. Turns out, I should have made a greater wish, because a few days later, Elie Wiesel and I boarded the same plane to Florida! I wrote him a note and asked him where we should shelve Night. The note came back with his one word answer, "non fiction." I came back from Florida to write an article for the Bryant Library newsletter and a few weeks later, Ed Lowe wrote an article for Newsday. It was very exciting!
Fast forward 3 years to the other day when Oprah Winfrey announced her new selection for her book club. One guess? Night! And, it seems that it was the controversy surrounding her last pick, A Million Little Pieces that caused her to choose Night. James Frey, the author himself has admitted embellishing the details a bit. Winfrey contends that whether it's entirely truthful or not -- she and many others have gotten a lot out of reading it.
The NY Times says, "Mr. Wiesel said he had not read Mr. Frey's book and could not comment on the controversy. He acknowledged that some people and institutions, including on occasion The New York Times, have referred to "Night" as a novel, "mainly because of its literary style." Could he be talking about the Bryant Library?
Posted by Michele at January 18, 2006 6:09 PM