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ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading Moore’s “ Writing The Personal Essay”, “Who I Am Today” and Karr’s preface to “Art of Memoir” because of how closely related they are. In ”Writing The Memoir Essay’, Moore references James Baldwin and says, “...we are always writing from our own experience, but it is up to us and indeed, our responsibility as writers - to squeeze from our experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give.” This is true, and perhaps might be the reason why I enjoy personal writing a lot more than formal writing. I think writers have an underlying need to be understood, or at least I do. That's why we turn to writing. I understand that in order to be understood you have to be extremely honest. Moore also quotes New York Times book reviewer, Michiko Kakutani when he said, “ the current memoir craze has fostered the belief that confession is therapeutic, that therapy is redemptive and that redemption equals art, and it has encouraged the delusion that candor, daring, and shamelessness are substitutes for craft, that the exposed life is the same thing as an examined one.” Although his sarcasm is mocking what I believe to be true, I liked this because writing has always been a form of therapy for me. I cannot always find the words to say to explain how I feel aloud, but on paper, the words burst onto the page. That is the beauty of personal and memoir writing, being able to completely and willingly be honest on paper. This not only helps you somewhat declutter your own mind and understand yourself, but writing about how you think and how you feel could really help someone who reads your work to get through their own troubles. Moore mentions this as well. On page 30, he talks about how the memoir’s purpose is about trying to “understand the vexing mysteries of human existence”. He mentioned that there are many explanations for the purpose of our existence through science, psychology, and religion but it is only natural that as humans we demand more truth. He states, “These questions may have no immediate answers, but reading about others people's lives, other people's challenges, and other people's small victories gives the reader fresh perspectives, i.e., more ways to consider the questions at hand.” I liked this because it reminds me of Socrates when he said that “The unexamined life is not worth living”. This takes me back to Kakutani’s mocking of memoir writing and him stating that “the exposed life is the same thing as an examined one”. Although he may disagree, I believe this to be extremely true. I examine my own life by writing honestly, looking back on what I have written, and reading other’s writing to help me understand myself. That’s what memoir writing is supposed to do, help you understand yourself a little better.
ReplyDelete-Starleen Rendon
In Moore's Writing the Memoir Essay, I wasn't surprised by the quotes he gave from other writers talking about how they disliked memoirs. I've heard this before from other readers. They've said there is nothing creative about it. I personally dont think that the memoir essay is all about the I. The intent of writing is as important as the subject. I am not telling you about my life because I think I'm special or important but because maybe you can learn from it. How many times have we read about a celebrity giving away personal information only to have someone on the internet say "I'm so glad you shared that. I've been through something similar." In Who Am I Today, I liked that Moore explains that there can be two personas in your memoir and it's okay if they don't agree with each other. You can't be the hero all the time. I also like that Moore mentions that it's okay to describe yourself as sad or angry. Most often people want to paint their best selves but that not who you are all the time. I also like that the question posed is not who am i but who am I today. I really liked how in Karrs preface she calls memoir a form of art.
ReplyDeleteDawn Bustamante
Moore’s “Writing the Memoir Essay” and “Who Am I Today?” both express one singular idea that seems to permeate what a memoir essay should be: you. Within these two sections, Moore describes that the only one to give meaning to your own life is yourself. For example, in “Who Am I Today?” Moore begins to describe a moment in which he explains to his wife the normality of his own life. However, he soon realizes that despite its normality, it is what mad him into the person he was today. Thus, he goes through the effort of explaining that even if your life is not as unique as others are, a memoir of your own life will be unique in its own right. This connects with “Writing the Memoir Essay”, in which both resonate the idea that your own writing in a memoir is as valid as you make it.
ReplyDeleteMary Karr’s ‘Preface” translate this idea as well as she begins to describe how she connects with the style of the memoir in her own writing. For example, she describes that what makes a good memoir a memoir is the truth in its contents. If a writer fully translates everything into their writing, they are making a memoir that is authentic and accurate. This search for the truth in their own lives is what makes a writer grow, and this is what she believes in present in many of the important memoirs she has taught and read. She quotes, “A fierce urge to try re-experiencing your own mind and body and throbbing heart inside the most vivid stories from your past is step one.” (pg. 323). A memoir should be the truth of the writers, and if they express it, they will make an effective memoir.
David Leal
In Moore's Chapters "Who Am I?" and "Writing the Memoir Essay". We see a similar topic in which we have all gone through in some point in our lives. In Middle School is where I was first told to never use 'I' in my writing. No matter what because no one cares about your opinion. Which at the time I believed until my second year of college, where I learned that it makes much more sense to have your own input and opinions and that 'I' is allowed. Even more so in Non-Fiction and Memoir writings, after all, this story is about you. So why not use 'I'? Same as in the second chapter by Moore, why shouldn't we write about our own lives? I mean we all have some significant moment in our lives that others might want to hear. Even if it isn't us specifically, it can be from others lives or Memoirs. Where we can find some common ground within each other. Personally, I would love to read a Memoir of the most notorious serial killers from beginning to end. To see what in fact happened in their lives that led them to what they did. Or any other topic as well.
ReplyDelete-Christina Velasquez
In Moore’s, “Writing the Memoir Essay” it talks about what and who you are as a person. Writing the memoir is about writing what made you, shaped you. How you learned from it and how it still impacts you and forces you to still ask questions after such a long time and hopefully what you went through can teach someone else. Show them that they are not alone. Something about nonfiction makes one feel that way. You write about reality and the plausible, something tangible. Invokes real feeling and hope. In “Who am I today” he talks about the reality of things, how we are all connected and how sticking true to what happened is best. Don’t fake it. I really liked how in Karr’s “The art of memoir” she mentions writing about memoirs is therapeutic. To me writing in general is but there is something special on writing about myself. My past. It allows me to release a pent up stress I feel, remorse or guilt. Really, it just helps me vent and makes me feel better even if what I write won’t ever be read. All this reminds me of the diary I kept through out my parents divorce. I wrote about many things, dreams, reality, and pain. All this is part of me.
ReplyDeleteAlejandra Rodriguez
Much like Moore, I’ll never understand why people are so afraid of “I” in writing. I understand, of course, that certain genres (research papers and such) call for a more academic approach and systematic way of writing, but at the end of the day, I’m left thinking: well, there is someone conducting the research, right? Whatever the answer may be, I’m just going to say that I love “I”, I love “me,” and I love “myself.” But I can see where people might feel uncomfortable about it. Growing up in this world, we’re being raised and trained and taught that STEM related careers are the way to go. Now, there’s nothing wrong with them, of course, and I don’t mean to shame them in any way, but I do find it discouraging when I know that we have students out there who are just interested in something else. We’ve been led a certain way and taught all of the intricacies that revolve around writing a good research paper or lab report, so that when we finally are told to use “I,” we don’t know what that word even is. Memoirs are amazing and what I find funny is that my first encounter with a memoir was actually fiction. But I’m glad for it because even though it was fiction, it led me to more memoirs, which I found just as fascinating as that first book.
ReplyDeleteAngie Acuña
In Moore’s “Writing the Memoir Essay” is writing about you. What has happened, who has come into your life to make you into the person that you are. What defines you as a person. Writing the memoir essay is digging deep into your past and really learning about yourself and what you dealt with through the years. What has happened that has made a drastic or even small change in your life. It’s about learning from each mistake and looking forward rather than backwards. “Who I am Today” talks about realizing the person that you have become. It’s the present and talking about it. It’s about telling the truth about yourself. Letting yourself be open with the audience. We all have a story because we’re all unique we all have something different to say even if we are living the same life and routine. We are all different. We all live singular lives that makes us stand out from the rest. Those life’s we leave become are present self.
ReplyDeleteIn Mary Karr’s writing she mentions the benefits of writing. The feeling of relaxation writing becoming like a sort of therapy. Through karr’s writing I get that writing our own stories is finding out who we are. Writing about our lives is hard and writing about pain is extremely difficult. We all go through things in life that sometimes you can’t even explain to yourself. You begin to question everything around you and everything tends to become blurry even more than when you started. A memoir is all those questions in your head that you can’t figure out. It’s putting them down in paper and figuring out a solution. A memoir is your own person thoughts and it’s not fake. The more detail and accuracy the better the memoir. A memoir is the vulnerability of the author. It is the author exposed to the simplest detail. It is showing your emotions and experiences throughout life that make a memoir different. We all live distinctive lives and we are all unique and we should embrace that.
-Abigail Vasquez
Moore’s “Writing the Memoir Essay” has a lot to do with your experiences, memories, and not being hesitant to use the “I” when writing for a memoir. One of the things he points out is that a good memoir/personal essay is written when you are not only detailing the memory from start to finish, but also fully bringing the memory to life by telling the readers the significance or sentimentality behind it. The way he described it felt similar to what we have learned when writing about food in that your essay can have the best details and still have it feeling devoid of any personality if you don’t tell us why the memory is important to you or what it brought out in you. His next chapter, “Who Am I Today?”, focuses on a writer’s sense of self with Moore using himself as an example to show that your past is unique and distinctive despite it not being as exciting or adventurous as others. This chapter can be best described as basically taking a long, hard look at yourself and finding out what could be the most essay-worthy thing to write about as well as being able to distinguish your persona in your essay. In the preface to “The Art of Memoir”, Mary Karr explains how while a fiction writer starts with meaning and manufactures events to represent it, a memoirist writes about the events and eventually tries to find the meaning in them. Basically, you are hunting for the truth in life by trying to ascertain what significance your experiences in the past have, if any, as well as the effect they had on you and how you got to where you are now.
ReplyDeleteNarciso Garcia Jr.
I really enjoyed Moore’s: “Writing the Memoir Essay” and “Who Am I Today? And Karr’s Preface of The Art Memoir. In “Writing the Memoir Essay I really liked how Moore used some other writers, Wolcott and Kakutani’s for their opinions on the subject of a Memoir and how they do not like it and actually take shots at the topic of a Memoir essay. He highlights that they are critics and stresses how important critics are when it comes to writing any type of essay by saying that they are right and wrong. To combat their negativities, I like how he uses another writer, Sue William Silverman, as an example of a good memoir writer and example of her memoir Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction. In Karr’s preface I really liked how she said that a memoir was a form of art. I like it because we all know, for the most part at least, that writing, or literature is a form of art. So a memoir is art within art. Kind of mind blowing for me one of those “Aha” moments.
ReplyDelete-Marco Garza
After reading, “Writing the Memoir Essay”, by Moore I couldn’t help but reflect on one of his earlier statements in the chapter, “A student in one of my classes some years back had been taught the prevailing notion that a writer should never use I in their writing”. I remember in my Junior year of high school when I had to write a 15 page research paper my teacher had told the whole class that we were not allowed to use any first person words and that we should get used to it. I remember struggling so much trying to think of other way to write a sentence while following her rules. I didn’t understand exactly why she was against it so much. She continued to push that rule even after our 15 page essay. I understand that the memoir essay is about telling something you remember from the past. Other points that Moore brings up is about mentioning detail in a story and elaborate on the events in which occur in the story. The point though that I never thought of, but agree is that we don’t always remember exactly what happened. What we remember could in fact be very different from what happened, so by having other sources that experienced the event with you would be a good way to fact check. The chapter “Who Am I Today?”, by Moore was interesting as he tackles the point in writing about being an average person who has had an average life. It is alright if you have a life that lacks a bit of adventure because you can have the essay build on character based on your view. He highlights the importance of being honest when writing, but more importantly be honest to yourself as your write. Karr’s preface was interesting. I liked how she said the truth is not the enemy. Which I feel connects to what Moore had said about being honest in writing.
ReplyDelete-Benito Reyes
The Moore essay, “ Writing the Memoir Essay” and “Who I am today” was the perfect bathroom read. Karr, not so much. Both of Moore’s essay are expanded universes of the same solar system. Each essay is about writing about yourself. Moore talks about suffering through his sheltered life and not having any material to write about. A light bulb hits Moore. Realizes he can write about not having a thing to write about. Damn, son. The memoir overall is about the writer. The writers experience with life. Its through him/her that we read their deepest pain and triumph. I got that from Karr.
ReplyDeleteKarr, I felt, went on tangents. She seems like a spunky lady, hell-bent on letting the reader know she is a redneck Texan, with highbrows looking down on her. I get it. Don’t like it. However, I do like her poetry like love of memoirs. Memoirs are real life experiences. Experiences we all have. Big or small. Karr romanticize her love of memoir and its intoxicating for me. Karr got me all jazzed up and ready for a crash course in Memoir writing and Zumba. Lets do it! Karr lets you know that Memoirs are personal. Writers are willing to go to the darkest places to show you their art. I can dig that.
Mathew Betancourt
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ReplyDeleteIn Moore’s “writing the memoir essay” addressed the fact that its okay to use the word “I” That it is important to be able to express yourself and define who you are as a person. The memoir essay is an essay that targets you and what you have experienced through out your life. Moores “who I am today” is an essay that targets what I feel is the truth, or the reality of how your life is and what you’ve done in the past. To accept and embrace the things that have happened for they make you, you. In Mary Karrs essay she talks about writing being therapy in some sort of way. I really enjoyed this and felt like its relatable because there are many times where we bottle things in so being able to express your feelings on paper is always a way to feel better in my opinion. It’s a source to relieve any type of emotional distress. A memoir reflects truth. The reality of who you truly are as a person.
ReplyDelete-Leslie Luna
I enjoyed reading both Moore’s “Writing the Memoir Essay” and Karr’s “Who Am I Today?” They are both very similar and explain to us what and how a memoir essay should be. For example, in Moore’s essay, he states that a memoir essay is as valid as we make it. Writing what has made you who you are today and what that is. In other words, in order for it to be interesting and catch the reader’s attention, it must be believable. “Who Am I Today”, explains that it is better to stick to the truth from the beginning, because it will be easier at the end, instead of having to keep track of what was said and making sure it all matches. I believe that writing in general can help one ease the mind and help you vent. Writing doesn’t necessarily need to be published or read by others, sometimes you have to express yourself and the only way to do it is writing. I tend to write more when I am mad and stressed, because then it helps me look back at it and realize that I will overcome whatever I am facing at the moment and this is only a temporary situation.
ReplyDelete- Claudia Anzaldua