Chicago Reader’s Julia Rickert finds The best-selling self-help book Oprah’s thrown her muscle behind appears to contain at least one fabrication while reminding
I BELIEVE THAT the truth matters, Oprah Winfrey assured her viewers last year following her on-air confrontation with author James Frey.
The fabrication is a quote:
“The secret is the answer to all that has been, all that is, and all that will ever be,” attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson on page 183.
The quote “has entirely eluded an extensive search for its origin.” Ricket details the search. What she has “come to suspect strongly”is that Rhonda Byrne may have made it up.” She concedes though
The possibility remains that I’ve overlooked something or that Rhonda Byrne is in possession of an unpublished Emerson manuscript or letter.
Nevertheless,
What shouldn’t be difficult is for Byrne to demonstrate the quotation’s legitimacy. So, I think she should. In fact, she should provide a list of the sources of all the quotations she uses. Why wouldn’t she want her readers to learn more from those she claims have mastered the Secret? And if Oprah values the truth so much, she should be asking the same question.
Ricket queried both Byrne and Oprah, but hasn’t heard back from either. Will she, I wonder?
(altered photo; original at Wikipedia)
2 Comments
I *know* you don’t care about The Secret!
You’re right: I don’t “care” about it. I care — or I should say I find it interesting — that this person, Ricket, is willing to stir things up.