English 269-001
Literary Forms and Genres: Remember Me This Way: The Memoir
Instr: Elder, Ellen
Office: CRT 474; 229-3935
e-mail: eelder@uwm.edu
Office hours: TBA
Course Information: MW; 9:30-10:45am; TBA
Course Description
Sven Birkerts writes: "the memoirist is generally not after the sequence account of his life as much as the story or stories that have given that life its internal shape." So, does that mean the author can alter fact and memory in the name of writing? Memoirs have been hot sellers recently-but no one can seem to agree how they're defined. For example, witness the scandal on Oprah that ensued after "The Smoking Gun" website revealed that James Frey fabricated sections of his best-selling 'memoir' A Million Little Pieces. Frey's book is just one of several we'll read, along with selections of or about the genre, in this class focusing on the memoir. Some of the questions we'll discuss include: What are or should be, if any, the limits of invention in memoir? What's the difference between autobiography and memoir? How does one measure interpretations of the past? How is memory subjective? They say "to your own self be true," but does that pertain to the writer? How much artistic license does a writer writing about their own life, get? Can one truly libel themselves? The course's collective goal will be to interpret the personal and social function of memoir as compared to fiction, creative non-fiction and autobiography.
