The Memoir Dilemma

Dear Kira,

Again, I must answer your question with both a yes and a no.

I have a lot less experience with memoir than you, but I disagree with you when you say that 'memoirs' are disregarded as classics; The Diary of Anne Frank and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass are two very good examples of classic memoirs. One of the earliest memoirs ever written, The Confessions of St. Augustine, is now considered a foundational text in Western Philosophy and Christianity. I guess the key to a classic memoir is to move beyond writing humorous stories about your life and personal experiences and write something that can transcend its genere to make a broader statement about life in general.

This all, of course, depends on what you define as a memoir. I have a very inclusive definition of the word. To me, a memoir is anything that somebody writes about their life. One can find published collections of letters and journals by many famous authors and political figures. For example, the letters  of Abraham Lincoln (particularly the Bixby letter) are widely read by some people (but not by me). I don't know if you would consider this a 'memoir', but, if you do, then it is certainly a classic. (And, if you want to talk about biographies, there's a whole mountain of classic texts from Plutarch's Lives to the epic, biographical poem John Brown's Body.)

Besides that, there are a ton of classic novels that read suspiciously like autobiographies  My personal favorite is David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens. Many historians have pointed out similarities between the lives of Copperfield and Dickens; David even became a novelist!

I know that these aren't the sort of memoirs you're thinking of. But, I think its important to remember that, until recently  creative non-fiction for the sake of creative non-fiction was sort of looked down on. Memoirs are experiencing a surge in popularity right now, but a few hundred years ago, if you someone wanted to write about their life, they would probably do it in the form of fiction. So, I can sympathize with your memoir woe in that respect.

This brings up a question that I'm sure we both discussed in English 200 and that we perhaps even touched on in this blog before. How important are the author's autobiographical details in understanding a novel? If David Copperfield was a wholly fictional piece, would it still have the same emotional impact? Would it still be considered a classic?

I hope so.

Maria