Reading due tomorrow (Sep 10th)

So my response to the reading - we went over in this in class already, so don't expect something insightful. To be completely honest I much prefered "Memory and Imagination" just because I was much more entertained. Not to say that "The Art of Memoir" wasn't any good (her story was actually pretty heart breaking), but I thought they made the same point, but I could relate to author of the first more than the second.

The way I look at writing a memoir is simple. Imagine if you had a house. And your bushes out side were trimmed very nicely and were perfectly rectangular. That is non-fiction. Completely clean cut, all facts are true exactly. Now, the fiction side of our little pretend bushes would not be a nicely cut patch - it would be a jungle, fierce and unknown. memoir writing is different. Its not a jungle, but its certainly not a clean cut shrubs. It is a bit unruly, but it maintains its shape well. Its emotional truth, and that is sometimes the same, but it is also sometimes very different from the truth.

I love the way that the author of the first reading talked about how she wrote on yellow legal pads instead of white paper, because of the self-concious fear of the blank white page. "I guess we all have our ways of whistling in the dark" (Not an exact quote...but its pretty similar).

But they are both correct...both correct in the fact that its hard to put an pin exactly where memoir lies between non-fiction and fiction. Its a more careful kind of writing. To be completely honest, I think that when you call it a memoir, I don't think anybody has the right to call you a liar. A memoir (as long as its your memories) is a personal story, presented forth into the ravaging public. If your not using your own memories, obviously your a liar. Not refuting that. But the fact of the matter is this - if I remember this particular day as sad, or w/e, another person could have a differing opinion. But the thing with memoir writing is simply this: it doesn't matter what that person thinks. If he wants, he can write a memoir. Its about YOUR emotional truth.

I definately really liked the way she described the C note on the piano....the center of the universe....

i know thats a weird thing to say just out the blue, but I just remembered it...


well...i'm gonna get back to listening to flight of the concords....