Memoir done right is an art, a made thing...writing a memoir is knocking yourself out with your own fist...You're making an experience for a reader, a show that conjures your past--inside & out--with enough lucidity that a reader gets way more than just the brief flash of titillation...And how can [a good writer] do that? A good writer can conjure a landscape and its peoples to live inside you, and the best writers make you feel they've disclosed their soft underbellies. Seeing someone naked thrills us a little.--The Art of Memoir
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
For this assignment, I
want you to write about a personal experience that you have always wondered
about. Whether traumatic or inspirational, fantastic or mundane, recent or
in the past, dig deep into this one personal experience and recreate it for
readers in a meaningful, coherent, thought-provoking manner. Remember, as Mary
Karr states, that the memoirist's aim is not the ultimate truth, but rather to
"create such a personal interior space, with memories pieced together,
that the reader never loses sight of the [memoir's] tentative nature...[The
memoir] is the speaker's truth alone" (16). As you draft and revise your
essay, also consider Dinty Moore's pronouncement about writing the memoir
essay: "one might write memoir and not essay" (28). In other words,
memoir is not just about retelling a particular experience; anyone can do that.
The memoir essay requires EMBELLISHMENT and REFLECTION. And how
do you go about embellishing your memoir essay? You employ the elements of
creative nonfiction--sensory details (what Karr calls carnality (Ch.
6)); descriptive and figurative language; conflict
(both internal and external); characterization and dialogue; research
(where applicable); and verisimilitude through a distinct voice (Karr,
Ch. 4). Most importantly, don't forget that your essay should be about reflection--the
lessons learned (or not learned) from your experience.
Finally, as Mary Karr
states in her Preface, “writing a memoir is knocking yourself out with your own
fist” (xx). This means that your memoir essay will inevitably get personal, but
you should only share what you feel comfortable sharing. Feel free to come and
talk to me during office hours if you have any questions about the content of your memoir essay.
YOUR ESSAY GUIDELINES
- In your Google Drive shared folder, create a Google Doc and name the file like this: Memoir_YourFullName (ex. Memoir_RobertMoreira)
- include a title for your essay
- as per mla guidelines, include page numbers (top right); your full name & other course info (top left of first page only); and double-space your entire document
- in your essay, strive to render your personal experience through the elements of creative nonfiction and memoir mentioned above; you should also reference our course readings
- the final draft of your essay (that is, the draft due with your final portfolio) should amount to about 8-10 double-spaced pages (2500-3000 words)
- The first draft of your essay is due Thursday, 3/30, the date of Workshop #5 (see syllabus).
