The Book Scandal Strikes Back

And this time it's a real writer who's under the gun: Günter Grass, Nobel Prize-winner. I'm not going to say much about this other than to remark that these book scandals seem to be getting more serious. Next thing we know, Charles Darwin will be accused of having rigged Origin of the Species.

Seriously, though, we're getting closer to a potential carthsis this time. The betrayal represented by Mr. Grass, his memoir, and its revelation that he was once a member of the Waffen-S.S. is far closer to the sort of massive, international political treachery that I believe these scandals are sublimating.

For me the big question that remains is what the skepticism of Grass (as well as less distinguished authors like James Frey) implies about our contemporary attitude toward truth. There seems to be a growing sense that, in every arena, those who have been appointed to articulate our collective truth are somehow dishonest -- not only with us, but (perhaps even more imporatantly) with themselves. Is this what these scandals are trying to say, to articulate our shared sense of denial? Is that why we haven't yet been able to collectively express our outrage at the Bush administration? Because too many of us still can't admit that things actually are as bad as they seem...