"The best memoirs, I think, forge their own forms. The writer of any work, and particularly any nonfiction work, must decide two crucial points: what to put in and what to leave out" (41).
According to Annie Dillard in "To Fashion a Text", she decided what to put in -her parents, Pittsburgh's history - and what would not find its way in - her summer in Wyoming, previous gentlemen callers. She was able to divorce her nostalgia with her childhood in order to create a piece of literary nonfiction.
1. Thinking of memoirs you've read or are currently reading - do you notice the authors deliberately piecing together a life or including every memory for memory's sake? In other words, have they been willing to "cannibalize their own lives for parts"?
2. [follow up] Are you willing to cannibalize your life for parts? If so, did you attempt that in your first piece or in a draft of your second piece? How hard is that?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment