"In all creative writing, the question of what is true and what is real
are two very different considerations. Figuring out how to dance between
them is a murky business."
In Most of What Follows Is True, Michael Crummey examines the complex
relationship between fact and fiction, between the "real world" and the
stories we tell to explain it. Drawing on his own experience
appropriating historical characters to fictional ends, he brings forward
important questions about how writers use history and real-life figures
to animate fictional stories. Is there a limit to the liberties a writer
can take? Is there a point at which a fictionalized history becomes a
false history? What responsibilities do writers have to their readers,
and to the historical and cultural materials they exploit as sources?
Crummey offers thoughtful, witty views on the deep and timely
conversation around appropriation.