Leona Lewis - the Dangers of Autobiography

BBC World News today had a clip on pop music diva Leona Lewis who got punched in the head at her book signing. The 24 year old author of the autobiographical 'Dreams' had been signing copies of her book when a man she just signed a book for assaulted her. A badly shaken Lewis was taken away to be examined by a medical team but she seemed more upset over the interrupted book signing than the punch.

Luckily, the doctors did not find anything amiss with Lewis.

But the event makes me wonder whether the man who punched her held a grudge against the singer. Maybe he was in her book and didn't like it.

The Dangers of Autobiography

Writing a memoir or autobiography may be a money-spinner these days, but what about the people who find themselves being written about? Many of them probably want the earth to swallow them. I know for a fact (from people who know her) that Arundhati Roy alienated herself from some of her family members by writing her Booker Prize winner 'The God of Small Things'.

The novel is "semi-autobiographical" and when I read it, it was obvious to me that she was writing about her life. I could not get over the implied incest in the novel, and thought to myself, "Why write about this if it is merely fiction? It does not further the plot or clarify the theme in any way."

In fact most writers, in my opinion, do write about their lives, but don't talk about it or admit it. However, after writing three fat novels about my highly eventful life, I decided not to publish them.

Even if I change the names and the locations, those I write about will know I am writing about them. Most of them will not like it. Besides, I don't have any right to make the private moments of others public. I don't want to be the cause of disharmony in an already chaotic world.

How True is the Memoir?

Ever since James Frey was caught red-handed embellishing the facts of his drug addiction and recovery in his memoir, "A Million Little Pieces," a plethora of such similarly fake memoirs have been published - some of these from fake holocaust survivors.

A writer must be ruthlessly honest in his autobiography. About himself, about others and about events in his life. And if he wants to cloak his autobiography as a work of fiction, he must still be ruthlessly honest. If not, his characters are not going to be credible.

I wonder how many writers dare to reveal warts and all to their readers. I'm sure there is always a tendency and temptation to embroider oneself, and to repress one's dark side. Which makes for an incredible character.

People have been talking about the psychology of inventing lies in the story of one's life, alleging that this blurs the line between fact and fiction, so that the writer may take his lies to be the truth.

I, for one, don't buy this argument. Although my early life is a haze, I know it is a haze.

So what am I doing with my three novels? I ma going to try and turn them into fantasy. I have already written a novella based on my life. But it is so different from my life, that those who know me well, may only recognise my pet theme: the transcending of desire and longing for power - the quest for the true self.