Oprah vs. James Frey: The Sequel -- TIME:
Oprah Winfrey and Nan Talese are giants in their respective fields. Talese is a publishing legend whose imprint at Doubleday includes such prestigious authors as Margaret Atwood, Pat Conroy, Ian McEwan and Antonia Fraser. Oprah Winfrey is, of course, Oprah. The last time the two women met was on Winfrey's show in January 2006, when one of Talese's authors, James Frey, famously apologized for the lack of veracity in his book A Million Little Pieces as Oprah berated him and withdrew her Book Club's lucrative endorsement of the book. All the while, Talese sat next to her author, stunned and sidelined. The event made for great television. And it may now be ready for a sequel.
At a literary convention in Texas last weekend, after a speech by novelist Joyce Carol Oates on the nature of truth in memoirs, Talese took the opportunity to go after the queen of television. In an earlier discussion at the convention, Talese had already called Oprah's slap-down of Frey on television "mean and self-serving" and described it as an ambush. At the Oates event, she was even more outspoken, and her remarks were captured by C-SPAN cameras. The show may air as early as this weekend.
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