When Memory Speaks: Reflections on Autobiography by Jill K Conway

by Jill Ker Conway

J ill Ker Conway, one of our most admired autobiographers--author of The Road from Coorain and True North--looks astutely and with feeling into the modern the forms and styles it assumes, and the strikingly different ways in which men and women respectively tend to understand and present their lives.In a narrative rich with evocations of memoirists over the centuries--from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and George Sand to W. E. B. Du Bois, Virginia Woolf, Frank McCourt and Katharine Graham--the author suggests why it is that we are so drawn to the reading of autobiography, and she illuminates the cultural assumptions behind the ways in which we talk about ourselves. Conway traces the narrative patterns typically found in autobiographies by men to the tale of the classical Greek hero and his epic journey of adventure. She shows how this configuration evolved, in memoirs, into the passionate romantic struggling against the conventions of society, into the frontier hero battling the wilderness, into self-made men overcoming economic obstacles to create an invention or a fortune--or, more recently, into a quest for meaning, for an understandable past, for an ethnic identity.In contrast, she sees the designs that women commonly employ for their memoirs as evolving from the writings of the mystics--such as Dame Julian of Norwich or St. Teresa of Avila--about their relationship with an all-powerful God. As against the male autobiographer's expectation of power over his fate, we see the woman memoirist again and again believing that she lacks command of her destiny, and tending to censor her own story.Throughout, Conway underlines the memoir's magic quality of allowing us to enter another human being's life and mind--and how this experience enlarges and instructs our own lives.

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing, Memoir, Biography

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Jill Ker Conway was an Australian-American author. Well known for her autobiographies, in particular her first memoir, The Road from Coorain. She was also Smith College's first female president, from 1975 to 1985, and served as a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2004 she was designated a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Alison Hardie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was taken aback by the opening sentence; "Why is autobiography the most popular form of fiction for modern readers?" Fiction? But I continued because the author is obviously erudite. Then on page 6 the author writes, "When, for instance, we encounter a world of arranged marriages, we see the Western conventions of romantic love differently and begin to ask ourselves where those romantic feelings come from. . ." so far so good in my opinion, "since in another culture they simply do not occur." Oh really? Cite your sources please. The author has a lot of good things to say but I kept stumbling over unsubstantiated statements.

[Jennifer Louden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feminist literary theory that, while exceptionally lucid and well argued, left with me a feeling of "and so?" Perhaps I'm too deeply immersed in this field and the idea of agency - choosing one's life - to appreciate the scholarship. I did read the book avidly and quickly, and I loved each summary of the various lives.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an inspiring book, that approaches memoir not just as an intellectual exercise but as a way to exert ownership over your life. I particularly liked her interpretations of memoirs i've recently read, such as The Liar's Club.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jill Ker Conway originally from Australia, has already penned two successful books about her experience growing up with her family in the outback, a tough life that schooled her hard working, independent spirit. She left home as a young woman, traveled to Harvard to study history, taught at the University of Toronto and was later President of Smith University, a career spanning several years in which she thrived in these academic settings. I had already read her two autobiographical volumes, “The Road to Coorain” (1989) and “True North” (1995), before reading this book and that experience enhanced my enjoyment of this volume. The validity of someone’s analysis is always enhanced by knowing they have “been there and done that” before speaking of a subject in a critical way.

Ker Conway speaks to how authors identify themselves through writing their life stories, a type of literature which has recently become more popular. She examines these works historically, identifying the various cultural and environmental forces that shaped these writers and the way they wrote about their lives. People live, learn and experience life in the context in which they live and so their writing naturally reflects those historical years. Going back to writers such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, Benjamin Franklin and then to more recent authors such as Frank McCourt, Henry Ford and Lee Iacocca, she points out how these men identified themselves as heroes who had to overcome challenges, trials and tribulations to steer their fate. At first, these challenges came from their external environment but later they were more internalized battles of wills, the struggle of an individual against the society in which they lived. The writings of women however were very different. Their early writing focused heavily on their religious experiences, visionary encounters with a God that led them to enter nunneries and hand their lives over to another to determine their fate. But by the late eighteenth century, books written by women, though small in number, presented a different view, focused on lives no longer directed by visions, but the decisions they made, the emotional and romantic attachments they nurtured and their work raising families. In the case of female writers and speaking to the work of writers such as Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Margaret Sanger, she identifies how the growth of feminism, heavily influenced and became an important part in that transformation.

Current writing has evolved to include all of these subjects as both genders focus their writing on self-determination, ego, romance, family and traumatic events. Her examples of Mary Kerr’s “Liars Club which chronicled this abused woman’s journey to become a successful writer, and Rick Bragg’s” All Over But the Shouting”, in which he credits his generous mother with much of his success, serves to make the point.

One important influence on the way men and women wrote was wartime. They wrote in similar ways about that experience, expressing disillusionment, horror at the destruction, terror and torture that resulted and their increasing sympathies with their enemies. It is an important point I have not read identified elsewhere.

Ker Conway speaks to what leads people to write their life stories, believing they help those who pen these narratives confirm their identify and those who read them experience their own and other lives, often from a different perspective.

She also identifies the many new subculture of narratives written by and for the young, the LGBT community, victims of sexual abuse and others. These works tend to fall outside the common boundary of the usual narrative which focus on moral or spiritual growth. In this way, she has come to see the memoir as a “mongrel form”, the type that easily adapts to a writer’s need to share their life story, unconstrained by literary boundaries or demands.

The depth and breadth of the research she has completed to pen this narrative is impressive. She easily weaves the stories of many authors throughout the text, giving readers a learned tour of the literature on autobiography. Although some have criticized the validity of her theoretical approach and her attempt to force these writings into some kind of taxonomy, Ker Conway has made a point of targeting the common reader with this work rather than the academic, hoping it will be a” helpful companion” to their reading experience. Many will enjoy her journey through the library shelves, an education itself on lives lived. In writing their life stories, many of these authors have tackled difficult and heady questions such as what it means to be human, whether there is such a thing as free will and how power political figures develop, all written in a language any reader can easily understand.

An interesting read, viewed from the perspective of a reader who enjoys autobiographical books and memoirs and who is less concerned about its merit as an academic text.

[Chana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives us an idea about forms of autobiography; how they differ for men and women, where our traditional forms of autobiography come from, how the forms have changed over time and why we readers are so fascinated with autobiography. She uses many examples from different autobiographies and that makes it interesting.

"Most of us, unless faced with emotional illness, don't give our inner life scripts a fraction of the attention we give to the plots of movies or TV specials about some person of prominence. And yet the need to examine our inherited scripts is just beneath the surface of consciousness, so that while we think we reading a gripping story, what really grips is the inner reflection on our own lives the autobiographer sets in motion."

[Connie Kronlokken]

Quite a clear message here. First, looking back can change the tenor of your story, which affects a lot of things. Second, "if we see the past as fully determined - by economic forces, by genetic codes, even by birth order and relationship to parents - we see ourselves as victims of those forces, with our best hope a kind of stoic resignation. If we see our past as a moral and spiritual journey in time, our imagined future will continue that quest."

Conway retells the stories of many people who have written memoirs, with insight and clarity.

[Rhonda Rae Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

In depth study of writing memoir and the memoirs that started the genre. I found many insights that will have to be explored in more detail and enjoyed the commentary of what is out there, how we got to where we are, and where we may be going in telling our stories. Very useful and informative. I'll be reading this again and keeping it in my library as reference.

[Jilany]

to-read

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book, which relates to form and style of modern memoir in understanding and presenting lives.

[Anna Levine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love how she she depicts our life as a plot made up of many elements which we control, and some that we choose not to.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF, didn't get far. God-awful academic cant. Avoid, avoid.

It's hard to imagine this is the same Jill Ker Conway who wrote the marvelous "Road from Coorain."

[Supritha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book about books. I enjoyed taking a glimpse of auto biographers' mind and thoughts.An enriching medley of emotions and narratives

[Deedee]

Dewey (BPL) 808.0669 C