Does It Have to Be Memoir?

By Beth Kephart

In the end, we make it. We craft the poem, we THE END the novel, we choose the cover art that will announce our work. No matter which pronouns we’ve used, no matter how many autobiographical facts we’ve either deployed or disguised, no matter how we defend or announce ourselves in our gussied-up flap copy, the books by us begin with us; they are personal. There is always the glimmer of an I standing in plain sight.

Having written and taught memoir for more than thirty ye...