[stylist] The problem with memoirs

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Vejas,

First, Cheaper by the Dozen is a fictionalized account of a true story,
so it's not actually a piece of nonfiction, but loosely based on the
real family.

Second, to answer your question, my emphasis at university was creative
nonfiction- memoir, personal essay, etc., so I will try my best to
explain this. Even the experts can differ on definitions, but in a
nutshell, autobiographies tend to be written in a linear order, are
typically about famous figures and celebrities and are told in a more
traditional fashion. Memoirs often read like novels because they do not
follow linear timelines, use more literary techniques like dialogue,
scenic development, metaphor and imagery, descriptive language and most
memoirs seek for a universal meaning. Where an autobiography strictly
addresses a single person and their life, a memoir uses a person's
personal experiences to find a relatability factor; to discover a
universal. In The Clan of the One-Breasted Women, Terry Tempest Williams
uses her families history of cancer to tie it in with environmental
issues.

Autobiographies also usually tell an entire life story where memoirs
tend to focus on a single moment in a persons life, or focus on only a
few fragments but not an entire life story.

Memoirs are usually more stylistic, as mentioned above, which is why
they read like novels. Autobiographies don't rely much on descriptive
language and scenic development. However, publishers often misuse both
words and title books memoir when they may be more autobiographical in
nature and vice versus.

Also keep in mind that autobiographies are written by the person who the
book is about; biographies are written by another person. People often
confuse the two, and for some reason, BARD categorizes both under
biographies, which I find annoying.

Hopefully this all makes sense.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 3
Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:05:16 -0800
From: vejas <brlsurfer at gmail.com>
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] the problem with memoirs
Message-ID: <4f4ebd3e.6745340a.5ed2.03fd at mx.google.com>
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Hi,
As you know I just finished a memoir.  Now I'm reading another 
one called A Girl named Zippy.  I don't love it yet, but I don't 
hate it either.
Now, this is what I think about memoirs.  I believe that they are 
interesting, as they chronicle a person's life.  However, I am 
more interested in a persns' childhood than adulthood.  
Sometimes, especially in this one book I read, the memoir doesn't 
easily walk the person through their life.  What I mean is, they 
might talk about when they're 8, then when they're 10 and then go 
back to when they're 8.  What's the difference between a memoir 
and an autobiography?

For once I actually know what book I'm going to read after this.  
As you know, there's this  play, "Cheaper by the Dozen", which 
concerns a family of 12 kids.  And there's a book about it, which 
interests me.  So I'm reading it next.
What do you think of memoirs?
Vejas