I’ve included some links below (mostly to other posts on my website) that should provide some interesting points of view about specific nonfiction texts, the memoir as a genre, and what Klosterman declares as “the rise of the real.” Remember that our Journal topic, after reading “The Trouble with Memoirs” can include a response to this article (maybe by looking at McCourt’s definition of the memoir as a “subjective retelling of events”), your personal experiences with nonfiction/memoir writing or film, and / or if it is even possible for something to be completely true. If none of these topics fit your fancy, feel free to explore other facets of the Nonfiction Universe.
More Trouble with Memoirs–Posts and links concerning Margaret Seltzer’s disputed memoir Love and Consequences.
Nonfiction Film Trailers–Nine trailers of nonfiction films that I have personally enjoyed viewing.
Reviews of Nonfiction Films
Into the Wild, by Sean Penn (Based on the book by John Krakaeur)
Favela Rising, by Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary
Invisible Children, by Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Lauren Poole
Reviews of Nonfiction Books
A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey
Into Thin Air, by John Krakaeur
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Reading these articles on memoirs and subjective realities, it struck me that the seminal work that broke open this genre in the United states, “A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius”, might have finally fulfilled the promise of its name.
Though I still find Eggers’ first book to be too self-aware and in need of some serious editing (with whole sections cut out preferably), I can now see how his loud clear throating at the beginning of the book, as well as the multitude of inner dialogues throughout, serve as a artful response of the ridiculous nature of presenting yourself as the star of your own most personal tragedy. Eggers’ words, when seen as a reflection on his dual role of author and protagonist, turn from vanity to an author dealing with the conflict between the larger reality of any situation and the value he subscribes to it in his memory. The author side of him must deal with telling a young man’s complicated story of ego and despair while he, the young man in the story, fights to come to terms with the loss of his parents and other subsequent life pitfalls. It makes sense why Eggers alterantely aggrandizes his role in the story while he also tears himself down. Despite one’s driving need to feel important and powerful, the quiet part of spirit feels the betrayal of exposing our inner pain for personal gain.
What makes Eggers book a work of heartbreaking genius is his awareness of this conflict and how he mocks his own ego and sense of importance. He tells us a true story by telling us from the beginning that much of it is a lie. A lie he has created to deal with truth vs. reality, and a lie Stephen Frey, and other memoir writers try to pass off as the truth.
To me, this is the fault of Frey’s work as nonfiction. He took things he had experienced, tried to carve truths out of them (even when he fabricated his involvement in the incidents), then betrayed this process in order to try to acheive commercial success. His repeated denials of his own creative process, in order to protect his success, are further examples of his denying his own creative truth and making it into a fiction.
Maybe, in the end, we need to clear our throats in order to remind ourselves of our intent, not our audience.
Thank your for this response; these ideas are very helpful for advancing our discussion. In class, we actually looked at a couple small excerpts from Eggers’ “Heartbreaking Work”–from the beginning (the throat-clearing part), where he mocks himself, readers, and the whole nonfiction genre and says that if, as a reader, you are upset with it being a true story, you should just “pretend it’s fiction.”
But we also looked at an interview where he discusses his book “What is the What,” and describes it as a “fictionalized autobiography,” which I find interesting.