Fact-Checking, Again

Jim Fingal and John D'Agata

Di nuovo sul libro di D'Agata e Fingal. Dan Kois, su Slate, si schiera dalla parte di Fingal, il fact-checker. Ma anche dalla parte della verità dei fatti, contro una supposta libertà artistica. Il linguaggio di tutti è molto colorito. "In my reading, I came to view Fingal as the hero of the book, desperately trying to protect the truth from a writer who didn't simply disregard accuracy but was openly contemptuous of it. Fingal looks the part of hero - he's big and muscular, with broad shoulders, a beard, and a deeply serious expression. Then a Believer intern, he's now a software designer in Massachusetts but still has strong feelings about the role of accuracy in writing. 'A writer's presenting these things as facts,' he said. 'I, the hypothetical reader, am putting my trust in him to give me the straight dope. What gives him the right to introduce bullshit as fact?'

D'Agata's response, when he heard Fingal's question? 'It’s called art, dickhead.'" slate.