I'm in the middle of revising lesson plans for memoir class. I continue to find new titles about teaching how to write memoir. That "one-click" button on Amazon is so tempting. Today I received two books and have been perusing them this evening. One,"Inventing the Truth" by William Zinsser, Houghton Mifflin, 1998, is his first book on memoir writing to which he refers quite often, The second, is a compilation of well known memoirists and their writings. I was not surprised to see Frank McCourt and Russell Baker included among them. I have cited them often in talking about writing the truth in memoir. The author, Judith Barrington, ("Writing the Memoir" The Eighth Mountain Press, ISBN0-933377-50-9), 2002), has a little different slant in writing what she determines as the truth. Sometimes it is difficult to know the truth when research has conflicting dates and other data that does not line up with the story. She cites another writer, Mary Clearman Blew, : "For my part, I struggled for a long time with conflicting claims of the exact truth of the story and its emotional truth as I perceived it."
Blew believes that both factual and emotional truth are important but sometimes the two are not the same.Too much research, for her,may prove the story you have carried around in your head for years, is confusing and could not be true due to conflicting data. She goes on to say that until recently she did not do research--she went with the memoir she had carried around in her memory.
She gives those memoirists who are like her and detest research some advise; do your research in matters that are public record. Have historical events in the right time period, names and places correct. A writer will save themselves embarrassment when they are meticulous about facts. She goes on to say that public records side, try not to worry about someone not remembering the story just as you do.(I've written about this in an earlier post.) "Memory is such a personal thing. and it is always revising itself."
In the past writers of memoir shied way from writing about harsh and shameful realities. ("Inventing the Truth" by William Zinsser, Houghton Mifflin, 1998). " Today no remembered episode is too sordid, no family too dysfunctional, to be trotted out for the wonderment of the masses in books and magazines and on talk shows"(Inventing the Truth).
There are many good memoir writers today. Zinsser often cites Frank McCourt.as one who used" grace and humor to beat back the past." . "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood; the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood and one yet worse is the miserable, Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." ("Angela's Ashes " by Frank McCourt, Simon and Schuster, 1996, ISBN-9-684-87435-0).
Katherine Bomer in her "Writing a Life," believe that the memoir writer owes the reader honesty..this does not mean the writer isn't allowed too embellish the facts to give he story interest. The basic truth is there but just prefaced with "it could have been...or "I can;'t quite recall it that way."
. I advise my students to be honest but temper your writing with kindness. Memoir is not the place to hash over old disputes.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Comments are welcomed.
r
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
THAT'S NOT THE WAY I REMEMBER IT --PART II
"Mr. Scott Comes A'Courting"...... continued.
My Aunt Pearl had a severe vision problem since birth, When she was twelve years old the family was resting on the front porch in the evening after a hot summer day. Someone called attention to the large moon. Pearl asked that it be point out for she could not see it. Her pareents were shocked that she could not see such a large object. She was taken to the local country doctor for an eye examination. He was sorry to report that she had cataracts which were probably present at birth. He knew only one hospital in the state that would attempt the surgery. Arrangements were made with the hospital in Charlottesville. Pearl was dressed in her Sunday best, given a small satchel with clothes and personal needs, a letter with her name and family information. There was just enough room for her lunch. As she stepped on the train, one can only imagine the fear and trepidation the young girl carried with her. The same feelings were probably doubled for her parents and family back home. She had the surgery which helped her vision somewhat. Her parents were told by letter that she would never see any better than she did after the surgery. They were a family of deep religious faith who accepted their lot in life knowing that with God's help they would prevail
It did not matter to Mr. Scott that Pearl wore thick glasses; she could see well enough to do the chores such as milking the cows. She didn't need her sight to play the piano. She made the most wonderful, buttery pound cake you ever tasted. She would have been a good wife and mother although she was nearly blind. I believe she had doubts about meeting her obligations of a wife and mother. She remained a spinster, and Mr. Scott still came a'courting.
So often in writing memoirs we feel it is imperative we have a lot of facts in order to write a memory of someone in our past. Quite often the opposite is true. With too much data we become overwhelmed and boring. Then, our dilemma is what to cut out. This is possibly the hardest thing a memory writer is called on to do. I use William Zinsser's book "Writing About Your Life" (cited in another post) in my Memoir classes. I respect his knowledge in capturing one's memories on paper. He writes of proven ways to reduce your information in order to construct an attention getting memoir. I have used one of those in the memoir, "Mr. Scott Comes A'Courting." I chose my Aunt Pearl as the main topic but I didn't want to write everything I knew about her. Let's face it--no matter what we do to fill up our days---some of those things are boring! After choosing Aunt Pearl, I decided her blindness and how it affected her decision not to marry was the heart of the memoir. Of course I would include how she discovered her blindness and her family's reaction. I would find it difficult to write Mr. Scott's memoir because I did not know anything about his feelings and what he did six days a week. I knew only of Sunday afternoons, when Mr. Scott came a'courting.
I hope this post has been helpful/encouraging if you are planning to write your memoirs.
Comments are encouraged.
My Aunt Pearl had a severe vision problem since birth, When she was twelve years old the family was resting on the front porch in the evening after a hot summer day. Someone called attention to the large moon. Pearl asked that it be point out for she could not see it. Her pareents were shocked that she could not see such a large object. She was taken to the local country doctor for an eye examination. He was sorry to report that she had cataracts which were probably present at birth. He knew only one hospital in the state that would attempt the surgery. Arrangements were made with the hospital in Charlottesville. Pearl was dressed in her Sunday best, given a small satchel with clothes and personal needs, a letter with her name and family information. There was just enough room for her lunch. As she stepped on the train, one can only imagine the fear and trepidation the young girl carried with her. The same feelings were probably doubled for her parents and family back home. She had the surgery which helped her vision somewhat. Her parents were told by letter that she would never see any better than she did after the surgery. They were a family of deep religious faith who accepted their lot in life knowing that with God's help they would prevail
It did not matter to Mr. Scott that Pearl wore thick glasses; she could see well enough to do the chores such as milking the cows. She didn't need her sight to play the piano. She made the most wonderful, buttery pound cake you ever tasted. She would have been a good wife and mother although she was nearly blind. I believe she had doubts about meeting her obligations of a wife and mother. She remained a spinster, and Mr. Scott still came a'courting.
So often in writing memoirs we feel it is imperative we have a lot of facts in order to write a memory of someone in our past. Quite often the opposite is true. With too much data we become overwhelmed and boring. Then, our dilemma is what to cut out. This is possibly the hardest thing a memory writer is called on to do. I use William Zinsser's book "Writing About Your Life" (cited in another post) in my Memoir classes. I respect his knowledge in capturing one's memories on paper. He writes of proven ways to reduce your information in order to construct an attention getting memoir. I have used one of those in the memoir, "Mr. Scott Comes A'Courting." I chose my Aunt Pearl as the main topic but I didn't want to write everything I knew about her. Let's face it--no matter what we do to fill up our days---some of those things are boring! After choosing Aunt Pearl, I decided her blindness and how it affected her decision not to marry was the heart of the memoir. Of course I would include how she discovered her blindness and her family's reaction. I would find it difficult to write Mr. Scott's memoir because I did not know anything about his feelings and what he did six days a week. I knew only of Sunday afternoons, when Mr. Scott came a'courting.
I hope this post has been helpful/encouraging if you are planning to write your memoirs.
Comments are encouraged.
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