The art of memoir / Mary Karr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Karr, Mary.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Autobiography--Authorship.

Autobiography.

Biography as a literary form.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 229 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2015]

Summary:

Karr breaks down the key elements of great literary memoir, opening our concepts of memory and identity, and illuminating the cathartic power of reflecting on the past; anybody with an inner life or complicated history, whether writer or reader, will relate.

Contents:

Caveat emptor

Welcome to my chew toy

The past's vigor

The truth contract twixt writer and reader

Why not to write a memoir : plus a pop quiz to protect the bleeding & box out the rigid

A voice conjures the human who utters it

Don't try this at home : the seductive, narcissistic count

Sacred carnality

How to choose a detail

Hucksters, the deluded, and big fat liars

Interiority and inner enemy : private agonies read deeper than external whammies

On finding the nature of your talent

The visionary Maxine Hong Kingston

Dealing with beloveds (on and off the page)

On information, facts, and data

Personal run-ins with fake voices

On book structure and the order of information

The road to hell is paved with exaggeration

Blind spots and false selves

Truth hunger : the public and private burning of Kathryn Harrison

Old-school technologies for the stalled novice

Major reversals in Cherry and Lit

Why memoirs fail

An incomplete checklist to stave off dread

Michael Herr : start in Kansas, end in Oz

Against vanity : in praise of revision.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-226).

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Schneidman Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9780062223067

0062223062

OCLC:

899226601