Reading Memoir

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Permalink Reply by John Clayton on September 29, 2011 at 8:19am

To write a memoir is to choose the important themes in your life, to identify, "This is who I am." One of the questions that interests me, as moderator of the panel, is how a memoirist develops that self-definition. Do they know it ahead of time, or does it come out of the writing process itself?

 

I'll be asking that question of four accomplished memoirists at 2:30 on October 7 at the bookfest. But we can also discuss it here -- or if you have other questions or comments, please feel free to raise them.

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Permalink Reply by Glen Chamberlain on October 2, 2011 at 2:27pm

I'm teaching a creative nonfiction class at MSU-Bozeman, and the students, as well as I, am struggling when the memoir becomes fiction--or if it's fiction all along.

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Permalink Reply by John Clayton on October 5, 2011 at 9:52am

Glen, do you think this has always been the case? Or does the question seem more urgent now because memoir is more popular? [others, feel free to weigh in![

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Permalink Reply by Glen Chamberlain on October 5, 2011 at 11:59am

John, I'm not sure if by 'this' being the case, you refer to the possibility that memoir has always been fiction, or that we're more concerned about it because the issue of memoir=fiction has been put before us  . . . the most melodramatic being Oprah melting down over Frey's A Million Little Pieces . . . or right now the fracas over Greg Mortenson's Three Cups Of Tea. Gotta run to class--the creative nonfiction one; I'm going to ask them if they want me to convey any questions to this panel, which I look forward to attending! More later

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Permalink Reply by Glen Chamberlain on October 5, 2011 at 2:24pm

Me again. My students had one more question (besides the above about whether memoir is fiction) for you. It's grown out of the book we're using: Bruce Ballenger's Crafting Truth. He has divided the book into three types of works: the personal essay, the memoir, and literary journalism. Literary journalism we get as a separate entity, but what do you perceive to be the difference between the personal essay and the memoir (other than, perhaps, the distinction being one of length--an essay vs. a book)?

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Permalink Reply by Kim Anderson on October 5, 2011 at 8:39pm

Wow, Glen that is such a great question, and I really hope the writers explore it at the Festival panel. I'm still thinking it through. When I think personal essay I think Montaigne who was the master of weaving the personal with a bigger philosophical question. But then I think of some of the great personal writers today--some New Yorker names like Adam Gopnik maybe--and they are certainly closer to memoir.

I think our troubles about whether memoir is "fact or fiction" might be fairly current (or at least cyclical) and stem from our general distrust of media, the blurring or slanting of fact in the news, for instance. So we're all primed and waiting for the next "gotcha." And, of course, because nonfiction sells better than fiction there's a huge pressure from publishers to rework autobiographical fiction as memoir. That's what happened to Frey as I recall, although, evidently his fiction wasn't even that autobiographical. I can't wait to sit in on this panel, John!

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Permalink Reply by Karen Stevenson on October 7, 2011 at 4:38pm

I have just returned to E. MT from the Flathead Writers Conference and memoir writing was a topic, thanks to Laura Munson. I wonder if the primary difference in memoir and personal essay is the structure upon which it is written. The personal essay is making a point (I'm thinking of essays in High Country News) and the memoir is more revelation through experiences gained from perspective. Just a thought and am looking forward to hearing this discussion continue with insight from the panel at the Book Festival.

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Permalink Reply by John Clayton on October 10, 2011 at 8:07am

Karen, I like that distinction. I write what-I-think-of-as essays, in which I'm considering an issue or making a point and occasionally using my or others' experiences to illustrate or demonstrate. Whereas to me, in memoir the personal experience is central. The issues affect or illustrate the person, rather than vice-versa.

And then to broaden it into the three categories Glen discussed, presumably in literary journalism it's _only_ the others' experiences, not the writer's own. However, I'm not sure Ballenger's tripartite distinction is useful. For one thing, it could imply differing ethical standards for the three types. And I agree with the comments of William Adler and Don Hardy on Friday's biography panel: regardless of sub-genre, the rule of nonfiction is simple and unequivocal. You never make anything up.

Glen, I'll be interested to hear your and your students' thoughts!

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Permalink Reply by Glen Chamberlain on October 11, 2011 at 3:25pm

Sorry I'm slow in responding, John. I'm buried in papers I haven't gotten done. In the case of memoir and personal essay, I don't know how one avoids making material up. If you're writing about an event that took place years (or maybe even weeks) before, you can't remember exactly the setting, the dialogue. You have to make it up or write some really clunky prose: "As I recall, Joe said something like this . . ."

We hear of people making things up and getting away with it; Judy Blunt, for example, wrote of her father-in-law taking her typewriter out and smashing it. She later said it didn't happen; that that was a way for her to get to the truth of how her father-in-law felt about her writing. Or there's Annie Dillard's description in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, when her cat jumps in and leaves bloody footprints all over her bed; it was a way to get at the cusp, Dillard said, of domestication and wildness, even though it didn't happen. Perhaps the issue is one of reality vs. truth. Reality can make for some pretty tedious life stories, it seems, whether a personal essay or memoir (still not sure of that distinction!).

 

John, I read in the Country Bookshelf newsletter that you'll be in Bozeman with  . . . I believe it was with Russ. Look forward to seeing you.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by John Clayton on October 11, 2011 at 6:58pm

At the panel, I asked whether current concerns about factual accuracy posed any roadblocks for these writers. I found Louise Wagenknecht's response particularly interesting. She said that in high school (the period covered by Light on the Devils), she kept a diary. Rereading it was painful because it was so poorly written, she said, "But," and I'm paraphrasing, as the event wasn't recorded, "it was amazing how I could write down so many details of an event without really understanding it." In retrospect, she could apply the understanding to achieve both "factual accuracy" and "truth."

 

Yes, I'll join Russell Rowland and Walter Kirn at the Country Bookshelf in Bozeman on October 27, to discuss "West of 98," the collection of personal essays (I hope that's the right classification!) about living in the contemporary West. Look forward to seeing you, Glen, and others, there!

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Permalink Reply by Kim Anderson on October 11, 2011 at 9:11pm

I like the distinction Karen brought back from the Flathead Writers Conference. That makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks Karen, and its good to hear from you again. John, how I wish I could be in the audience at the Country Bookshelf!

 

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Permalink Reply by Glen Chamberlain on October 11, 2011 at 9:43pm

Yes, I like Karen's distinction (hi, Karen--I've not met you!), too. I read it to my students today as a way to distinguish the personal essay from memoir. I'm still hung up on the issue of fiction, however. Take Louise's diary; if, with perspective, she now understands what it means, won't she pick the details from the diary to establish the meaning she now sees it to have? If she changes her mind next year as to the meaning, can she go back and choose those details that help establish it? 

 

Maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe all good literature has a quality of accuracy to it.

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