Has the recent spate of literary hoaxes (James Frey, JT Leroy, etc) left you wondering about the authenticity of true stories? Here is an interesting case from 1979, courtesy of the "editor" of Go ask Alice, the diary of a teenage drug user.
Jay's journal, "the haunting diary of a 16-year-old in the world of witchcraft", was "arranged" by Beatrice Sparks, a Mormon psychologist responsible for a number of so-called anonymous diaries. This diary of a good small town boy who becomes seduced into Satanism is her most extreme effort. Jay goes from worrying about girls, dabbling in drugs and sympathising with eastern religions to graveyard marriages and animal sacrifice in 145 pages!
Sparks did claim to have based Jay's journal on the journal of an actual teenager, Alden Barrett from Pleasant Grove, Utah, whose family sent her his journal after the strong responses toGo ask Alice, hoping it might help other troubled teens. However, when the journal was published they were in for a shock - Sparks had used 21 of Barrett's original entries and added over 150 of her own, claiming she had gotten information from the dead boy's friends.
The "anonymous teenager" genre kicked off by Go ask Alice has become quite a phenomenon as modern morality tales for the voyeuristic public. Titles published by Sparks on a variety of issues include:
  
Interestingly, the different teens all share the exact same writing style, use the same slang and even have the same favourite flavour of ice cream. Seems suspicious? Read the books and decide for yourself.
- Elisabeth |
