Memoir and Truth

1
Memoir and Truth

• the purpose of writing is to enhance mystery,
  not solve it.
• -Tim OBrien

2
Journal for Today

• Take 5 minutes to write about an event that
  changed your life (or a memory that you still
  have from childhood). Describe it in as much
  detail as possible. Dont leave anything out.

3
Two Truths and a Lie

• On a scrap sheet of paper, write down two truths
  and a lie about yourself.
• With your partner, share your three things
  without letting them know which one is a lielet
  them guess!
• The good liar will then find someone else to
  pair with.
• Repeat until there are only two people left!

4
Does a story need to be a work of non-fiction to
be a work of truth?
5
Metafiction

• Fictional writing which self-consciously and
  systematically draws attention to its status as
  an artifact in order to pose questions about the
  relationship between fiction and reality
• Patricia Waugh, Metafiction The Theory and
  Practice  of Self-Conscious Fiction.New York
  Methuen, 1984.

6
Verisimilitude

• The quality of realism in something

7
Melodrama

• Exaggerated emotions, stereotypical characters
  and interpersonal (between individuals) conflicts

8
James Frey Controversy

• Read A Million Little Lies and write your
  opinion about what James Frey did.
• Was he wrong to exaggerate in a memoir?
• Oprah Interview

9
Lies in A Million Little Pieces

• Was involved in accident that killed a schoolmate
  (although he knew her)
• Served a few hours in prison instead of a few
  months
• Account of arrests
• He had a root canal procedure done without
  anesthesia (he did have the procedure done,
  however)
• Questions those he knew in treatment facility (he
  cant reveal their names to protect their
  anonymity

10
Get in your groups.
11
Top 10 Infamous Fake Memoirs

• Top 10 Infamous Fake Memoirs
• http//listverse.com/2010/03/06/top-10-infamous-fa
  ke-memoirs/
• Saturday, March 6th 2010
• by Skeratch aka Scratch
• A memoir can hardly be expected to contain the
  whole truth. Memories are faulty and the authors,
  of course, are presenting their own personal view
  of themselves. But faulty memories, omission, and
  slight exaggeration are far different than
  completely warping the truth or creating an
  entirely imaginary life. Whatever their
  motivation, many people have published false
  memoirs and many more people have unknowingly and
  ardently supported them. When the memoir is
  revealed as false, a surprisingly common reaction
  is to appeal to the emotional truth of the story.
  Its about how we feel in our guts, not what
  reality dictates. I submit that such ideas are
  dangerous and should be strongly opposed. The
  truth is important, and it should not be
  sacrificed for romantic notions rooted in
  irrationalism. We read and create true stories of
  triumph and tragedy all of the time, but if we
  have the urge to dramatize real events we can
  its called fiction. Below are ten false memoirs
  in chronological order.

12
In your groups

• Read the information on the memoir assigned.
  Summarize the information on a separate sheet of
  paper and decide, as a group, whether you think
  it was wrong of the author to present his/her
  book as a memoir when part of it was fiction.
• Decide on a RECORDER to write this down and a
  PRESENTER to share your opinion with the class.
• On your poster, you should have
• Title, Author
• Notes on Falsehoods
• Opinion of whether or not the author was morally
  wrong

13
Long Lance, 1928
14
Papillon, 1969
15
Go Ask Alice, 1971
16
The Education of Little Tree a True Story, 1976
17
The Hitler Diaries, 1983
18
Misha A Memoire of the Holocaust Years, 1997
19
Forbidden Love, 2003
20
Love and Consequences, 2008
21
Angel at the Fence, 2009 (cancelled)
22
Rewrite your memory

• After our discussion today, how accurate to the
  truth was your memory of an experience that
  changed you?

Now (and for homework if you dont finish),
rewrite your memory of the experience, adding
details and elaborating so that your audience can
feel what you felt when it happened (even if its
not exactly what happened.