[Washington Post] Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn't really named Barry at all:As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name 'Barry' referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.
We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.
Appalling. The book wasn't a novel; it was a memoir, offered to readers as such. The copyright page, which I suspect few people read, does say that "Some names and identifying details have been changed," but it certainly doesn't tell people which ones.
Indeed, early in the book, when she mentions a boyfriend of hers and labels him Jonah, she adds a footnote: "Name changed to protect the truly innocent." Reasonable readers, it seems to me, reading the rest of the memoir, would assume that "Barry" -- whose name wasn't accompanied with any such footnote -- was actually named Barry. Even if not all readers would so conclude, many would, and quite understandably so.
How could Dunham and Random House do this? How could an author and a publisher -- again, of a self-described memoir, not a work of fiction -- describe a supposed rape by a person, give a (relatively rare) first name and enough identifying details that readers could easily track the person down, and not even mention that "Barry" wasn't this person's real name? |