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Library | Call Number | Material Type | Home Location | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kenilworth Library | CT25 .B285 2002 | Adult Non-Fiction | Open Shelf | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
Since Writing the Memoir came out in early 1997 it has sold roughly 80,000 copies and is consistently praised as "the best book on memoir out there." It is thought-provoking, explanatory, and practical: each chapter ends with writing exercises. It covers everything from questions of truth and ethics to questions of craft and the crucial retrospective voice. An appendix provides information on legal issues.
Judith Barrington, an award-winning memoir writer and acclaimed writing teacher, is attuned to the forces, both external and internal, that work to stop a writer; her tone is respectful of the difficulties and encouraging of taking risks. Her nimble prose, her deep belief in the importance of this genre, and her delight in the rich array of memoirists writing today make this book more than the typical "how-to" creative writing book. In this second edition the author has added new material andreflects on issues raised since Writing the Memoir was written, early in the memoir boom.
"No student of memoir writing could fail to learn from this wise, pragmatic, and confiding book. One hears on every page the voice of an intelligent and responsive teacher, with years of thinking about memoir behind her."--Vivian Gornick
Judith Barrington is the author of Lifesaving: A Memoir and numerous individual memoirs which have been published in literary magazines and anthologies. She is the author of three volumes of poetry: Trying to Be an Honest Woman , History and Geography, and Horses and the Human Soul (forthcoming in 2002). She has taught creative writing for the past twenty years.
Table of Contents
Introduction | p. 11 |
1 What Is Memoir? Suggestions for Writing | p. 17 |
2 Who Cares? and Other Thoughts on Getting Started: Suggestions for Writing | p. 33 |
3 Finding Form: Suggestions for Writing | p. 47 |
4 The Truth: What, Why, and How? Suggestions for Writing | p. 61 |
5 Scene, Summary, and Musing: Suggestions for Writing | p. 79 |
6 Moving Around in Time: Suggestions for Writing | p. 93 |
7 Using Your Senses: Suggestions for Writing | p. 107 |
8 Naming Names: Suggestions for Writing | p. 119 |
9 Writing about Living People: Suggestions for Writing | p. 129 |
10 Your Memoir and the World: Suggestions for Writing | p. 139 |
11 Watch Out for the Myths: Suggestions for Writing | p. 151 |
12 Getting Feedback on Your Work: Guidelines for Critique Groups | p. 161 |
Appendix Your Memoir and the Law | p. 171 |
Permissions Acknowledgments | p. 177 |
Index to Authors and Titles | p. 181 |
About the Author | p. 187 |