*g*

during all of these debates, I always flash back to my diss topic which, though in a very different realm, dealt with a lot of the same issues (or rather, its inverse maybe?).

I'm just c&ping the epigraphs to an article I wrote, which all really resonate with what you're saying omn a differnt level:

“Today at this very moment as I sit writing at a table, I am not convinced that these things really happened” (Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz)
“I am no longer sure that what I have written is true, but I am sure it's truthful” ["Aujourd’hui, je ne suis pas sûre que ce que j’ai écrit soit vrai. Je suis sûre que c’est véridique.](Charlotte Delbo, Auschwitz and After)
“Some events do take place but are not true; others are—although they never occurred” (Elie Wiesel, Legends of Our Time) (here)

I.e., whereas you're emphasizing the truthful aspect in fiction, these autobiographical writers emphasize the fictional aspects to truth.

Eh...sorry...not quite what you're talking about, but the true/Truth thing definitely resonates with me on so many levels...