Truth Or Fiction

PG found a series of podcasts at New Yorker online. People, usually published authors, choose a short story from the magazines archive, and read it. Last night it was “My Russian Education”, written by Vladimir Nabokov, and read by Orhan Pamuk.
The story is part of Nabokov’s autobiography, “Speak Memory”. Before that publication, it was printed as a short story, and presented as a work of fiction. The podcast host asked Mr. Pamuk why Nabokov would blur the line between fiction and biography like that. The answer was that authors are not as concerned about this difference as editors, and presumably readers. It changes the way a piece reads, whether it is marketed as true memory or made up story.
Hearing a story read, rather than silently scanning it with your eyes, also changes the way a story feels. MRE is more about the father of Nabokov, and his dangerous political activities in St. Petersburg before the Russian Revolution. To have this story read by a Turk, with ESL pronunciation, adds the sense of a European story from a bygone era.