BY WYNNE DELACOMA [Chicago Sun-Times, 6 February 2006]

The concept of "emotional truth'' has taken a beating in recent weeks.

Granted, it's not all the truth necessary for a piece of so-called nonfiction like James Frey's "memoir,'' A Million Little Pieces, but it is the heart and soul of a work of art. Why else do we look at a Degas painting, go to a Mary Zimmerman-directed play or listen to Mozart if not to learn something about ourselves and the world that mere facts can't begin to reveal?