Memoir Authors discussion

Have you ever been irked by the indiscrimminate use of the term "memoir?" Then see my essay on the topic...

Annette wrote: "Have you ever been irked by the indiscrimminate use of the term "memoir?" Then see my essay on the topic..."

Thank you for sharing this informative essay. Very enlightening; I've shared it with my friends and family who struggle to understand why I wrote my book. Hopefully, readers will be able to follow my journey and quite possibly, will find they can relate to some universal themes.

Re your wonderfully expressed all-encompassing definition of a memoir, below is how I begin when invited to give a talk to a club--all in a nutshell.:


"I HAVE WRITTEN THREE BOOKS. TWO MEMOIRS, WHICH I’M TOLD ARE PENNED ONLY BY CELEBRITIES—WHICH I AM NOT--AND ONE TRAVEL JOURNAL.

"THE FIRST TWO BOOKS ARE NOT AUTOBIOGRAPHIES —A STORY A WITH A BEGINNING, A MIDDLE AND AN END--OR THE TERM UNIFIED LINEAR NARRATIVE, WHICH I ASK YOU TO KEEP IN MIND AS I WILL REFER TO IT LATER REGARDING ONE PUBLISHER..

MY BOOKS ‘UP THE WOODEN HILL -THE TALE OF TWO WWII FAMILIES'’ AND ‘COMING OF AGE IN CALIFORNIA –ENGLISH STYLE-‘ ARE SLICES OF MY LIFE, OR MEMOIRS. I WILL, HOWEVER, START AT THE BEGINNING, ONTO THE MIDDLE AND
THROUGH TO THE END OF HOW I CREATED THESE BOOKS..."

http://home.earthlink.net/~schaefer234/

Annette, I enjoyed your essay very much but I still think there is room for experimentation. So many books these days are genre-crossing and don't fit easily into any category at all...or they might fit into more than one category.

I think I owe you one example, Annette, of how the boundaries between genres have largely disappeared. Beside me is a book called "The Story of my Heart" by the British essayist and naturalist Richard Jefferies. The subtitle is "My Autobiography". When the reader finishes the book they know nothing about the author's life, or not in the usual sense. It's really a record of his inner life and how he formed his personal philosophy. It was published in 1883. But I agree with you that a student or a reader needs some idea of what they are getting into. A label as you say. The students and readers can find out on their own that some folks colour outside of the lines.

Thank you Annette for your essay...like everything else these days, boundaries are softening - genres seem to be as well. Your comment: "A good memoir is not an accumulation of anecdotes, however entertaining they may be, but rather an inquiry into what those stories mean to the narrator." It is the very process of understanding the meaning of one's life via intense introspection that brings memoir into its own. I can appreciate as Mirta has shared that the intensity of writing memoir can be a wonderment to others; it is however for the writer, a compelling experience - one that can be transformational and quite freeing. At this juncture, I couldn't imagine my life without the publishing of my book, Jupiter Remembered, which is an integration and valuing of the meaning of my life. Perhaps memoir represents how we authors best express the life we have been blessed with...I for one am so glad that we have a venue for its expression!

I wish Annette would pop in! I had no idea there was any distinction between autobiography and memoir. So thank you for that! I freely admit my book is not a memoir according to Annette's definition, and that's fine. I thought both words implied the past and no more than that. But I will also say that a collection of "anecdotes" can address serious things, maybe delve deeply, or maybe be light as feathers. And there is one thing I sensed in your essay: a memoir is to find some meaning in one's past. We only look for meaning in the unhappy things, the painful things. We never second-guess happiness. Is there such a thing as a happy memoir? Annette, come home, say something!

A repeat of Message #3 from me, Jill Schaefer, re memoirs and autobiographies.
Re your wonderfully expressed all-encompassing definition of a memoir, below is how I begin when invited to give a talk to a club--all in a nutshell.


"I HAVE WRITTEN THREE BOOKS. TWO MEMOIRS, WHICH I’M TOLD ARE PENNED ONLY BY CELEBRITIES—WHICH I AM NOT--AND ONE TRAVEL JOURNAL.

"THE FIRST TWO BOOKS ARE NOT AUTOBIOGRAPHIES —A STORY A WITH A BEGINNING, A MIDDLE AND AN END--OR THE TERM UNIFIED LINEAR NARRATIVE, WHICH I ASK YOU TO KEEP IN MIND AS I WILL REFER TO IT LATER REGARDING ONE PUBLISHER..

MY BOOKS ‘UP THE WOODEN HILL -THE TALE OF TWO WWII FAMILIES'’ AND ‘COMING OF AGE IN CALIFORNIA –ENGLISH STYLE-‘ ARE SLICES OF MY LIFE, OR MEMOIRS. I WILL, HOWEVER, START AT THE BEGINNING, ONTO THE MIDDLE AND
THROUGH TO THE END OF HOW I CREATED THESE BOOKS..."

http://home.earthlink.net/~schaefer234/

Groundhog Day, the movie.

In 2006, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"

INDEED. (I liked the movie, but only once.) Shilling in capital letters won't help to promote your books, Jill. Conversation and good manners help I think. And general goodwill.

Wayne wrote: "INDEED. (I liked the movie, but only once.) Shilling in capital letters won't help to promote your books, Jill. Conversation and good manners help I think. And general goodwill."

Repetition CAN be positive,redeeming and all-revealing--as in Groundhog Day when, after being entrapped in the unnerving repetitions, the bitter,self-centered lead character's eyes are opened and he begins to care and respect others-goodwill unto all.

I thought this was interesting: "A memoir is how one remembers one's own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked." -Gore Vidal

One book I would recommend, and I think it abides by Annette's strict definition, is "Memoirs of Montparnasse" by John Glassco. It's about the time he spent in Paris in the 1920s when so many American ex-pats were there and the writing and painting scenes were thriving. A lot of the famous folks appear, and the writing in this book is glorious.

Some thoughts on the ongoing conversation. All books, if they tell a story, have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It's how stories go. And stories, to be read, need tension. That's not to say we can't have "happy memoirs" but tension keeps the reader turning the page. And, finally, on the need to distinguish the genre, to "pick one," I think the major reason for that is to help librarians and bookstore owners shelf the book appropriately. My two cents. Now back to perusing (listening) to see where I want to roost.

Janet, you are certainly right about bookshop owners and librarians. I've been a bookseller for most of my adult life. My shop is closed now but that's beside the point. Maybe I should mention that it was a secondhand/antiquarian bookshop. Think "84 Charing Cross Road", either the book or the movie with Judi Dench and Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft. Sort of like that. But I digress. Many times a book would come my way and it wasn't easy to decide on which shelf. Sometimes more than one. Sometimes a few! Our experiences written down don't always satisfy or fit in to anyone's easy label. I hope you're roosting in a good place.

Re movie: one of my favorites. The sister of a friend of mine played Anne Bancroft's girl friend. Had one scene I believe. At a kitchen table.
Small world. So where did you wind up shelving 84 Charring Cross?

I wish I could remember! I did have a smallish biography section so I probably put it there. Wasn't the movie a little wonder? I loved it. The book too.

Or maybe I put it on the window ledge. I was a pretty good judge of what would sell quickly if I put it in the window. Especially if I put the book in the out-stretched open-palmed hand of the mannequin in the window! The mannequin (sp?) was on loan from a dress-maker I knew.

love the quote from Gore Vidal!

Annette wrote: "Have you ever been irked by the indiscrimminate use of the term "memoir?" Then see my essay on the topic..."

Hi Annette,

Your essay was interesting. I tried to define a memoir and distinguish it from narrative nonfiction in a recent blog. Check out.

http://lindakovicskow.com/2013/10/wha...

French Illusions: My Story as an American Au Pair in the Loire Valley

You self published, right?

Annette wrote: "Have you ever been irked by the indiscrimminate use of the term "memoir?" Then see my essay on the topic..."

I just read your essay and found it very informative, even though I had known the basics before.

@ Wayne:

Since Annette seems to have gone into hiding since her 1st and last post on March 28, I am addressing my questions to you because you say that you have been a bookseller for most of your life.

According to my knowledge, true life stories written by someone else are called "non-fiction narrative tales" (for instance, "Into the Wild", by Krakauer). Yet I find true Holocaust-stories, written by daughters or unrelated journalists, frequently labeled or, at least, referred to as memoirs.

Are these books labeled wrong, or is there a difference whether the book has been written by gathering facts (possibly posthum, like in "Into the Wild") or by interviewing the person who tells his/her memories or life story?

Would authors who write such books be considered "memoir authors" and allowed in this group? And would authors who have clearly written memoirs but disguised them as novels (my minor changes) for legal reasons be allowed in this group?

My book, which will soon hit the market, is a clear memoir, but I have a few GR friends whose books are either someone else's memories (or life story) or the book has a wrap-around fiction frame (and changed names) to make it eligible to be labeled a novel.

And my last question: Is it allowed to recommend a (very good) book in this group that is not a clear memoir?

I'm reading Beth Kephart's book: Handling the Truth on the writing of memoir.
I like her take on memoir. I also felt very confused on the subject what a memoir is and isn't. I hope This book will help others like it did for me.

Feliciano wrote: "I'm reading Beth Kephart's book: Handling the Truth on the writing of memoir.
I like her take on memoir. I also felt very confused on the subject what a memoir is and isn't. I hope This book will h..."

Thank you, Feliciano. I'll check this book out immediately.

Lilo wrote: "@ Wayne:

Since Annette seems to have gone into hiding since her 1st and last post on March 28, I am addressing my questions to you because you say that you have been a bookseller for most of your ..."

Hi Lilo
In answer to some of your questions, anyone who has written a true life story is welcome in the group, and there are a few members who have published their true life stories as fiction, due to sensitive topics. This group is to support fellow authors who have written true life stories. I'm not so concerned with the actual definition of the word memoir (in context of group membership). We are here to support each other. Hope that helps.
Leila x

@ Leila:

Thank you, Leila. I'll invite my author friends who have written true life stories to join the group.

Great!