At one point in Percival Everett's The Trees, Ed Morgan and Jim Davis find themselves in Memphis:
"You ever been to Graceland?" Jim asked.
"No."
"I was there once."
Everett, Percival. The Trees. Minneapolis: Graywolf, 2021. ch. 83, p. 242.
Later, as Ed and Jim are on their way out of the city with their colleagues Herberta Hind and Helvetica Quip:
Ed drove. He did not deliver them directly to the freeway that led out of Memphis. Instead he took a circuitous route through the rundown city. "Sorry about taking the long way," he said. "It's just that every time I'm in Memphis I have to drive by one place, not to get out, but just to pause and look."
"Graceland?" Hind said and chuckled.
"I've been there, but no," Ed said. "Here we are. The Lorraine Motel. There on the corner of that balcony. I was ten. That's why I'm a cop."
ibid. ch. 86, p. 252.
How to account for the discrepancy that when Jim asks Ed whether the latter has ever been to Graceland, Ed says he has not, but then a day later he says to Herberta that he has been there?
- Did Ed lie to Jim out of embarrassment at having visited Graceland, then slip up and admit the truth later?
- Is Ed lying to Herberta because he does not want to admit that despite having visited Memphis several times, he has never seen Graceland?
- Is this merely an editing error, as with the misspelling "flare" for "flair" noted in a previous question?
- Or is this something else entirely?
What might be the reason for this inconsistency? Has Everett been asked about it? Have reviewers, critics, or scholars provided any explanation?
