"I am so embarrassed to be publishing a memoir," Franzen said at the event.... "It is something I more or less vowed never to do."
Franzen isn't the only one who is embarassed. Though truth is I've got nothing against memoirs as a form. Me and memoirs, we once had a little fling. (We avoided making babies, though, which is for the best.) There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the form--as with all things, there's those that are done well and those that are done poorly. At heart, memoirs and novels are both about telling stories. Personal stories are totally awesome. Personally I think I'd take a flatbed truck of memoirs over a boatload of thinly-veiled semi-autobiographical novels anyday, and not just because I think I might get seasick. But it seems like it's become such a bandwagon form these days.
So yeah, I dunno. What I do know though is that if you read somewhere about "bloggers" getting "all in a tizzy" about Franzen's move to memoir--they're talking about me, this time.
4 comments:
See, you pimp someone out a little bit, and then you can't get rid of them.
I actually like anything that's well written. Memoirs, novels, heck, even non-fiction historical books are good if they're made interesting.
The problem with memoirs, as I see it, is that so many of them fall into two categories:
1. Oh, my life was so miserable but look what I've overcome to get here. Pity me, then commend me.
or
2. Boring.
As far as #1 goes - well, yeah. Life sucks. This is just sort of the way it goes. It's hard for me to feel too much pity for most people who have lived such hard lives, because man, I've been there. Why should I pity you?
And #2, well that should be obvious.
Then there's the other issue, where writers like David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell (and I think Augusten Burroughs is the same sort of thing, though I've not read his) get placed into the memoir category, though that's not actually what they're writing. They're writing stories, (some of) which happen to be about true events. (I say 'some' because I think I remember reading at least Sedaris cop to embellishment and even fictionalizing.) I don't think it's quite fair to call them memoirs, at least not in relation to the other long, detailed, blow by blow autobiographical ones. Each story could stand alone.
It's a very small distinction, I know. But it's one that exists in my head anyway.
Really, I just like stories. Real or imagined, as long as it's a good, well written story, nothing else matters.
--end babble transmission
I am completely uninterested in most memoirs--I did read a well-written and sorta relatable one by Karen Armstrong--because I find it a too obvious and uninteresting way to be "all about the author" and Christ knows that the Writer as Person gets enough attention these days over his/her, you know, work (and goddamnit if I see one more fucking Murakami article being about his stupid marathon and running habits I will stab the next jogger I see).
Creatively speaking what more can be said about a memoir besides it being well-written? (This is where I am supposed to acknowledge the power of emotional truthiness, someone else do it for me.)
I'm biased. I avoid biographies of writers/intellectuals/past presidents/prime ministers/ok everyone except Martin Luther but I was a kid then and still into the "God", and I more or less despise the importance an author's life takes in literary criticism these days.
Oh, thank you for not slapping me on the wrist about my rant, it's Easter, I always feel slightly murderous at this time.
Mel: I'm so ridiculously all about wanting to not be able to get rid of people, it's almost silly. I should pimp people out more often.
But yeah, I'm right there with you on the Sedaris-ian story/memoir distinction. He's really not about presenting his life as some object of study, but rather, using it as source material for his writing. Ultimately he's just so damn good at it, it really doesn't even matter what it is he's doing.
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Arethusa: Every time I see a reference to Murakami's running habits, I eat a pint of ice cream. I like to think of myself as his universal balancing force.
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