Comments on: The Problem with the Problem with Memoir

By: Sheila

Sheila — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 10:37:08 +0000

The key to a good memoir- hell, to any good book – is that it’s both an interesting story and written in a way that it provides connection. If you just describe your life, focusing on the “I” rather than the where, when, who- the Why and How- your writing will be narcissistic, because it’s not telling a story. Creative non fiction is a tricky gig because you are relying on memory. And as A Million Little Pieces showed, memories can be fickle and untrustworthy as reliable news sources. Great thoughts here- and Linus I’m borrowing your thoughts as well to share with my students, who are writing- you guessed it- personal essays.

By: Colleen Friesen

Colleen Friesen — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:04:04 +0000

Stephen, I agree with you that every person’s life is fascinating. Every one of us could be the subject of a great book. But, like you say, it is how well it is written that makes for a story worth reading.
Life IS in the details and it is those well-observed details and the connection to the larger whole that makes for a riveting story.
A good writer can write about anything…a single day, a meal or a fragment of their life and when done capably, will hold us in their thrall. You’re right that we should be aspiring to that standard as readers and writers. Thanks.

By: ED

ED — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 11:45:53 +0000

I think the Gawker piece came from the fact that the professor a) was teaching a journalism class, and b) was requiring students to confess to her their deepest secrets, and c) crowed in the NYT about it. It’s not that memoir is bad, it’s that memoir was being presented to students as a form of journalism – the class being taught was Feature Writing.
Memoir is a wonderful and vital form of creative nonfiction writing, better taught in an MFA program than journalism school. A wonderful book on the art of memoir is “Memoir: A History,” which tracks the form’s triumphs and pitfalls. Yagoda notes that most these days are essentially secular redemption stories – the deeper the fall, the steeper the climb; he points out the real problem with the memoir is often fabrication.

By: Linus

Linus — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 23:22:23 +0000

Thanks Jennifer. Be my guest. Everything i know about memoir I learnt right here reading stuff on this site, so thanks goes to the rumpus really. Thanks rumpus.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:59:52 +0000

Linus, you summed up the difference between journalism and memoir so well, I may just “borrow” that!

By: Linus

Linus — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 13:38:53 +0000

Think your last line is the key – its about connection.

Journalists report facts (or, at least, should!). Good Journalists report the facts in a way that connects these facts to the wider world; the context, the consequences. Great Journalists connect the facts and the wider world to the reader; the consequences, the personal responsibility to be involved with what one reads, the possible responses.

Memoirists report experiences. Good Memoirists report these experiences in a way that connects them to the wider world, bringing new perspectives and new insight to the world around us. Great Memoirists connect their experiences to the wider world and the reader; offering to share with the reader their empathy, their hard-won tragedy and beauty, their glimmers of hope to apply to the world.

Its not about the form or the genre. Its about the connections.

By: Sarah Schlosser

Sarah Schlosser — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:54:26 +0000

If Hemingway can write about a lunch of white wine and oysters, then there’s hope for all of us. I know that I will never tire of “A Moveable Feast,” among other, similar things.

There are so many kinds of readers that we need so many kinds of writers. Can’t say that the judgmental Gawker piece makes me want to read Hamilton’s work again–I don’t like who I am when I finish reading things that limit the world, and not open it wide in flight.

By: Johnny No Bueno

Johnny No Bueno — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:31:24 +0000

I am constantly telling people that writers write. They think because I was punk, a junkie, homeless, music promoter that these are the only ingredients of a great book. I beg to differ. For instance, Nick Flynn, whose initial story comes at the end of a great deal of sorrow surrounding his mother. yet that is not the engine behind his story. First and foremost it is the writing. And writing with means of discovery and not of fulfillment. I am starting to wonder if intention might hinder most writers. I can have an audience in mind, but who am I to dictate how the story comes out. Thanks Stephen, great shit.

By: Erin Lyndal Martin

Erin Lyndal Martin — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:32:23 +0000

Just a cursory reply to say I agree re: narcissism. It is when I most write the truth of my own life that I most fall in love with it and, in turn, with everyone else and the stories of their lives.