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Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir
An indispensable book by writers who have experienced firsthand the rewards and challenges of crafting a memoir
Anyone undertaking the project of writing a memoir knows that the events, memories, and emotions of the past often resist the orderly structure of a book. Inventing the Truth offers wisdom from nine notable memoirists about their process (Ian Frazier searched thr...more
Anyone undertaking the project of writing a memoir knows that the events, memories, and emotions of the past often resist the orderly structure of a book. Inventing the Truth offers wisdom from nine notable memoirists about their process (Ian Frazier searched thr...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
May 20th 1998
by Mariner Books
(first published 1987)
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There are a few gems here -- the latter part of Annie Dillard's "To Fashion a Text" and Toni Morrison's excellent guide to the history of African American memoir: "The Site of Memory." The bibliography is also fascinating, to see what writers were reading as they wrote their memoirs. Otherwise, this book hasn't quite made the transition from spoken presentations to published essays, and the product is neither solid craft advice nor strong personal essay.
I read this in preparation for a unit I'm planning on memoir and autobiography for a tenth grade high school class. Almost all of the essays collected here are exceptionally thoughtful, but especially the ones by Toni Morrison, Annie Dillard, Jill Ker Conway, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The Morrison essay is probably the best--it touches on something that I find particularly interesting yet unexplored about the genre, which is the line between fiction and memoir, between "truth" and "fact." I sus...more
More inspiring than actually helpful, INVENTING THE TRUTH is a collection of memoirs on writing memoirs. This INCEPTION-like premise works, not because it's a particularly interesting concept, but because the book's editor, William Zinsser, chose a group of extremely articulate and engaging writers for this compilation, writers who could discuss the gradual dehydration of paint and still make it sound compelling. The book is a collection of interviews, essays and speeches; most of the material i...more
A collection of advice from 5 different authors on writing memoir. Each is very different in the writing that has made up their career, so everyone can undoubtedly find a favorite. The variety of what defines each one's writing is amazing, from religion to history to science. A common trend is the authors' insistence that a memoir will never be quite enough - at least two compare it to the photographs from a vacation and how your memory now centers around those as opposed to the actual memories....more
Nine modern writers reflect on the joys, struggles, and surprises of memoir writing. I plunged into this book expecting to be stimulated and inspired, and I wasn't disappointed.
No in-depth tutorial of the genre here. Just a peek into the hearts and minds of a mix of writers who share a way with words, an impulse to craft stories of memories, and little else. Transcribed from talks, so the tone is conversational, but the insights are as sharp and elegantly couched as if they were penned.
Each es...more
No in-depth tutorial of the genre here. Just a peek into the hearts and minds of a mix of writers who share a way with words, an impulse to craft stories of memories, and little else. Transcribed from talks, so the tone is conversational, but the insights are as sharp and elegantly couched as if they were penned.
Each es...more
I love Zinsser. I love his writing, his thought process and his mind. His writing (included in this anthology) is planted on earth, graspable. He's an awesome editor as shown in this work. The collected essays deal with the many considerations inherent in memoir. This anthology includes the work of Dillard, Baker, Kazin, Morrison and Thomas. Dillard suggests that the re-writing of a memory will implant the edited version in the mind of its maker (71). Zinsser says, "Memoir is a window into a lif...more
Lots of wonderful insight on the process of writing memoirs. My favourite excerpt below from Toni Morrison:
"You know, they straightened out the Mississippi in places, to make room for houses and liveable acreage. Occasionally the river floods these places. "Floods" is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding, but remembering. Remembering where it used to be. All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was. Writers are like that: remembering where we were...more
"You know, they straightened out the Mississippi in places, to make room for houses and liveable acreage. Occasionally the river floods these places. "Floods" is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding, but remembering. Remembering where it used to be. All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was. Writers are like that: remembering where we were...more
Mar 15, 2011
Kate
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those interested in the art and craft of memoirs.
Recommended to Kate by:
My Memoir Writing Teacher
Shelves:
memoir
For the last several weeks, this book and I have become companions in our journey through our advanced memoir workshop.
Like any anthology there were some sections that influenced or stood out more than others and for me my inspiration came from the introduction, Jill Ker Conway, Annie Dillard, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The way our class was set up was that we'd read an excerpt from the memoir itself, then we'd read the commentary on how the author came to write his/her memoir, and discuss. When...more
Like any anthology there were some sections that influenced or stood out more than others and for me my inspiration came from the introduction, Jill Ker Conway, Annie Dillard, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The way our class was set up was that we'd read an excerpt from the memoir itself, then we'd read the commentary on how the author came to write his/her memoir, and discuss. When...more
Zinsser's introduction promises more than the book delivers. I enjoyed a few of the commentaries on process, but I thought less of Dillard after reading her comments on her own writings. Also, a few were very self-congratulatory. But, what did I expect from a book with authors talking "about" their writing rather than reading their actual writing?
I like to write down quotes from books I like, and with this book, I wrote down so many quotes, I just about copied the whole book. One of my favorite essays was from Toni Morrison, and she wrote: "If writing is thinking and discovery and selection and order and meaning, it is also awe and reverence and mystery and magic."
I found some interviews more enjoyable than others.
Important themes some interviews shared: love for Dillard and Frazier. Morrison and Gates on stereotypes of African Americans. Simpson about aspiring to write something noncommercial.
Important themes some interviews shared: love for Dillard and Frazier. Morrison and Gates on stereotypes of African Americans. Simpson about aspiring to write something noncommercial.
I was enticed by the title, Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir, because I have been skeptical about the veracity of many of the memoirs I have read and felt that they contained considerable “invention”. As I read Zinsser on the unreliability of memory and Baker on the possibility that accuracy does not equal truth and even Dillard on the danger of using memories in a memoir, I have come to accept and embrace the proposition that memoir has to do with truth which is not synonymous w...more
Nine authors explain their individual process of writing their memoirs. A good resource book for anyone attempting to write their own memoir. I especially enjoyed reading the chapters for Frank McCourt, Russell Baker, and Eileen Simpson.
I'll have to rewrite my review...just lost what was the best ever on this treasure and the insight I've gained from reading it.
I'm amazed at the depth in each essay from some of the greatest writers.
I'm amazed at the depth in each essay from some of the greatest writers.
I read this book expecting a lot and I wasn't disappointed. The introductions, which are usually long and boring and something I skip half the time, was excellent and informative, and each chapter was like a different facet of the whole memoir writing experience--motives, process, results, consequences. My favortite chapter was by Frank McCourt, and I got a lot from Annie Dillard's chapter even though her approach, philosophy and just about everything she said is different than mind. I really li...more
May 01, 2008
Hurston
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
memoir writers, writers, people into writers
This is a good complement to Zinsser's classic "On Writing Well." I was hoping for the magic sauce that would make my life interesting enough to write a book about it and get rich and retire, so I was disappointed. It's really a collection of writings from several very successful memoir writers and each tells, in the writer's own words, how they went about getting their memories down on paper and into a logical, coherent form. It's very well written and interesting. If you're going to put your l...more
10 authors give their take on memoir writing and what drove them to tell their own life stories.
The opening essay by Zinsser and the essay by Annie Dillard make this book worth it. I'd say a fantastic text for those writing memoir.
Pretty useless unless you've read all the books they reference.
A master class in the art of memoir.
Jun 10, 2007
Suzii Paynter
added it
IN the last two weeks, I just tackled the task of committing the letters of a 25 year friendship to a scripted presentation. I was inspired and educated to read these reflections by major authors - of fiction and nonfiction - of their process of actually writing about their own lives in the first person.
In one selection Annie Dillard reflects that once you commit something of your own life to written text, the act of writing ( and refining), the text-experience can overshadow the original exper...more
In one selection Annie Dillard reflects that once you commit something of your own life to written text, the act of writing ( and refining), the text-experience can overshadow the original exper...more
I used this text in a college writing course, Approaches to Teaching Writing. It's a great sampling of various authors' approaches and tensions in the writing of memoir.
This isn't a "how to" book. It's basically a book of essays by successful memoir writers. They each tell something they think is important regarding how or why they wrote their memoirs. I found it interesting and comforting that these very successful writers felt and experienced the same things I have, and I gleaned some ideas to try with my own writing.
Jul 28, 2009
Ronnie
marked it as to-read
Read in grad school; re-reading in bits and pieces.
Good. A book of essays by nine different memoirists including: Russell Baker, Frank McCourt, Annie Dillard, and Toni Morrison. I highlighted something in every essay. Some are better than others.
Interesting book about writing your own memoir. Each chapter is by a famous author who has written a memoir and the decisions and consequences of having done so. Helpful for anyone considering writing a memoir.
Just getting started (after a very profitable book buying journey to Powell's a couple of days ago), and am very pumped to read this, which includes pieces by some of my favorite authors.
A very good source for anyone who wants to write memiors or just likes to read them.
May 15, 2013
Linda Watson
marked it as to-read
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William Knowlton Zinsser (born October 7, 1922) is a writer, editor, and teacher. He began his career as a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune, where he worked as a feature writer, drama editor, film critic, and editorial writer, and has been a longtime contributor to leading magazines.
In his books, Zinsser emphasizes word economy. Author James J. Kilpatrick, in his book The Writer's Art sa...more
More about William Knowlton Zinsser...
In his books, Zinsser emphasizes word economy. Author James J. Kilpatrick, in his book The Writer's Art sa...more
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May 12, 2008 11:12am