Another fake Holocaust memoir
Status: Literary hoax
The Curse of Oprah Winfrey has struck again. The Curse is that anyone who appears on her show to tell about their painful yet inspiring personal history, later is revealed to be completely full of BS. People who make multiple appearances on her show are even more likely to be struck by the curse.The latest flap is that Herman Rosenblat and his wife, who claimed to have met when he was a child in the Buchenwald concentration camp and she was a town girl who would throw food over the fence for him, made up their tale of young romance. The truth is that they first met on a blind date in New York. Rosenblat's publisher has canceled his forthcoming book, The Angel at the Fence.
I think skeptics have questioned the Rosenblat's story for a while. After all, how could a young girl possibly get close enough to the fence of Buchenwald to throw food over it? Yeah, he was in a sub-camp. But even so, it doesn't make sense.
As my wife and I were watching this story on the evening news, she asked why people like the Rosenblats don't simply publish their stories as fiction. After all, no one is denying that they're good stories and might make a great book. The answer, I guess, is that if you call a story true it has a lot more emotional power than if you call it fiction. So the Rosenblats (and other fake memoirists) are basically using a cheap trick to manipulate the emotions of readers and attract more attention to their books.
Links: BBC News, Telegraph. (Thanks to everyone who emailed me about this.)
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Categories: Literature/Language, Sex/Romance Posted by Alex on Tue Dec 30, 2008 |
Comments (37) |
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{continued...)
It sounded like a great, romantic story, and Oprah fell for it
Posted by Danny Bloom on Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 07:23 PM
It sounded like a great, romantic story, and Oprah fell for it
Oprah, Take Down That Wall (of lies)! Now!
While Oprah admits on her TV show that Herman Rosenblat's Holocaust
'backstory' was false, she does not delete it from her website. Why?
What's up with that?
Posted by danny on Sun Jan 18, 2009 at 08:30 AM
While Oprah admits on her TV show that Herman Rosenblat's Holocaust
'backstory' was false, she does not delete it from her website. Why?
What's up with that?
Three late observations:
1. Robert Varela has touched on an interesting point: it seems impossible to accurately count dead Jewish people. Al-Jazeera is a prime example, and remember, the inventor of the "Big Lie" Theory admitted to being friends with Jews . . .
2. Notice that there were no virus problmes on the site util Danny Bloom showed up?:)
3. If the more times you appear on Oprah the more of a phony you are . . . What does that say about Tom Cruise?
Posted by D F Stuckey on Sun Jan 18, 2009 at 12:16 PM
1. Robert Varela has touched on an interesting point: it seems impossible to accurately count dead Jewish people. Al-Jazeera is a prime example, and remember, the inventor of the "Big Lie" Theory admitted to being friends with Jews . . .
2. Notice that there were no virus problmes on the site util Danny Bloom showed up?:)
3. If the more times you appear on Oprah the more of a phony you are . . . What does that say about Tom Cruise?
DJ Stucky in NZ:
yes, I am the virus man. wasn't that a Beatles song?
did you ever read Kokopu Dreams by Chris Baker? Then you will understand what all this is about.
SMILE
danny in NZ, too
Posted by danny on Sun Jan 18, 2009 at 07:28 PM
yes, I am the virus man. wasn't that a Beatles song?
did you ever read Kokopu Dreams by Chris Baker? Then you will understand what all this is about.
SMILE
danny in NZ, too
Danny, I doubt you have read that book either, given that you are illeterate; The proof being your inability to read and spell my name correctly.
My dyslexia at least allows me to get all the correct letters if not the right order; You have missed several out and got one totally incorrect.
Maybe when high school starts agin, you can correct this.
Posted by D F Stuckey on Mon Jan 19, 2009 at 03:42 AM
My dyslexia at least allows me to get all the correct letters if not the right order; You have missed several out and got one totally incorrect.
Maybe when high school starts agin, you can correct this.
DF
wrong. i read it last week. i got paperback with me right now. amazing book. see my review here
http://www.rushprnews.com/2009/01/12/new-zealands-cormac-mccarthy-pens-apocalyptic-the-road-in-kokopu-dreams/
DANNY
New Zealand's Cormac McCarthy' Pens Apocalyptic 'The Road' in 'Kokopu Dreams'
January 12, 2009
By Dan Bloom
Posted by danny on Mon Jan 19, 2009 at 04:40 AM
wrong. i read it last week. i got paperback with me right now. amazing book. see my review here
http://www.rushprnews.com/2009/01/12/new-zealands-cormac-mccarthy-pens-apocalyptic-the-road-in-kokopu-dreams/
DANNY
New Zealand's Cormac McCarthy' Pens Apocalyptic 'The Road' in 'Kokopu Dreams'
January 12, 2009
By Dan Bloom
Dan Bloom, I compared you to a prnk-pulling half-educated teenage boy earlier, when you now seem to be a viral marketing person.
My sincere apologies for insulting in such a disgusting and foul manner all the prank-pulling half educated teenage boys.
To return to the thread, does anyone recall the name of the Cnadaian guy who claimed to be an SOE operative in WW2 and to have worked with the French resistance, who was uncovered as a scam artist and worse, a Christian; Didn't they simply move his book from non-fiction to fiction nand keep selling it? He did have the decency to have alwyas channeled the profits from the book to the Boy Scouts, though.
Posted by D F Stuckey on Mon Jan 19, 2009 at 01:00 PM
My sincere apologies for insulting in such a disgusting and foul manner all the prank-pulling half educated teenage boys.
To return to the thread, does anyone recall the name of the Cnadaian guy who claimed to be an SOE operative in WW2 and to have worked with the French resistance, who was uncovered as a scam artist and worse, a Christian; Didn't they simply move his book from non-fiction to fiction nand keep selling it? He did have the decency to have alwyas channeled the profits from the book to the Boy Scouts, though.
{stupid336x280}
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