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Modern American Memoirs
In "Modern American Memoirs, " two very discerning writers and readers have selected samples from 35 of the finest memoirs written in this century, including contributions by such diverse writers as Margaret Mead, Malcolm X, Maxine Hong Kingston, Loren Eisely, and Zora Neale Hurston. Chosen for their value as excellent examples of the art of biography as well as
...morePaperback, 464 pages
Published
October 9th 1996
by Harper Perennial
(first published 1995)
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Of all the essays in Annie Dillard’s and Cort Conley’s Modern American Memoirs, the one I think I learned the most from was the excerpt from Wallace Stegner’s Wolf Willow. His original comparisons! “I watched the sky with suspicion,” he writes. “Exposed as we were, it could jump on us like a leopard from a tree” (Stegner, 27). Or, “[The wind:] hits the Plains and comes across Alberta and Saskatchewan like the breath of a blowtorch” (Stegner, 34). Throughout the essay, Stegner compares flora and ...more
An interesting collection of memoirs whose stories concentrate around the time frame between the Great Depression and the civil rights movement.
With multiple takes on ideas like the intrigue of the circus, the bitterness of racism, and the hard work of conquering the west, this collection showed this time period of America from a different angle of authentic voices.
On the down side, some of the excerpts just weren't for me (in which case, I admit to just skipping forward ...more
With multiple takes on ideas like the intrigue of the circus, the bitterness of racism, and the hard work of conquering the west, this collection showed this time period of America from a different angle of authentic voices.
On the down side, some of the excerpts just weren't for me (in which case, I admit to just skipping forward ...more
Editor Annie Dillard packs this book with superb writing. I happened to read James Baldwin right on Martin Luther King Day--what a gift. Soon thereafter came John Wideman who helps us see his parents and their contexts so well. As an example about his father: "Wagons once upon a time in the streets of Pittsburgh. Delivering ice and milk and coal. Sinking in the mud, trundling over cobblestones, echoing in the sleep of a man who works all day in the mouth of a fiery furnace, who dreams...more
I had previously reviewed this with "Assigned reading for a class from 10 years ago - finally finished" without explaining why it was worth going back. I am not, as a rule, a fan of memoirs as a genre. The great bulk of them (by my estimation) are insipid, full of attempts to alter history, and generally written for a pile of cash, or to fling some final barbs.
Either way, these are not whatever I find objectionable about most memoirs. In fact, some of them are gorgeous and ...more
Either way, these are not whatever I find objectionable about most memoirs. In fact, some of them are gorgeous and ...more
A fairly surprising and useful book. It occupies the middle age of the memoir--the thirty or so years (although there are exceptions) between the 19th century Great Men Writing About Their Great Lives memoir and the Fucked Up Childhood memoir. Most of these deal in experiences--this is what is was like to be a kid on a farm in Iowa in 1870, a foot soldier in the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi, a worker at a circus, and so on. Very nicely done, and fills a needed gap in my education.
Christin
rated it
Recommends it for:
Anyone interested in non-fiction
Recommended to Christin by:
Karl
The anthology provides a wide array of memoirs and is really a standard for teaching the genre. It holds a dear place in my heart because in my memoir class with Karl, I unwittingly mentioned in conference on the day we read Maureen Howard's piece from Facts of Life that I had performed in my high school's production of The Music Man as a pick-a-little lady and knew the classical attitudes from the Grecian Urn scene. Later that day in class, he proceeded to make me read that portion of the mem...more
it's an interesting book to teach, lots to work with. bummer that everything is a selection from a larger work-- it is hard to show students how to write short memoir pieces from this model, but many have said they want to get the larger works to continue the stories. many classics in the collection.
I read this as a book on tape for the Idaho Society for the Blind when I lived in Boise. I wonder how many people listened to me read this book to them?
Thankfully, this book was a good portion of the reading for a creative non-fiction writing class I took during my second-to-last semester of undergraduate. This book includes the whole text of "The Star Thrower," my introduction to Loren Eiseley, who is an acquired taste but a brilliant writer. Some other favorites: the selection from Richard Selzer's "Confessions of a Knife," the selection from Frederick Buechner's "The Sacred Journey," and the selection from "...more
Excerpts from the memoirs of many twentieth century writers.
This was a really good book.My favorite was the autobiography by Malcolm-X and the Biography of Zora Neil Hurston those were great
This is an anthology of American memoir writing from the 20th century. It's an amazing collection of diverse American voices. Reading these excerpts is like listening to a room full of fascinating people. Each voice is unique and revelatory. I loved it. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in American history, American culture, memoir writing or discovering new writers. There were a lot of writers in here that I never heard of but will check out now.
There is some delightful reading here. I really liked Hamlin Garland's description of his farm life from Son of the Middle Border. I aspire to the fluid, lyrical, descriptive style that reads easily and keeps the story moving forward. Also, James McConkey's Hector Dick and I was very symbolic and insightful. There is much to learn from the biographies of these individuals.
Part of my class this semester... I know I finished it and I don't remember it.
For my creative writing class.
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