Tag Archives: Memoir

“Show me yourself.”

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Kate Stover

Anna Quindlen says that when Barry Jenkins was filming The Underground Railroad, he directed the actors to “Show me yourselves.” In other words, don’t act. Similarly, Quindlen recommends doing the kind of writing where you don’t posture for an audience. … Continue reading →

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“Observe, observe perpetually.”

Posted on November 30, 2022 by Kate Stover

More than 400 years ago, Michel de Montaigne of France invented a new literary tradition of close inward observation. “It is a thorny undertaking,” he writes, “to follow a movement so wandering as that of our mind.” Scholars, such as … Continue reading →

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“I believe large numbers of people have at least some talent as writers and storytellers, and that those talents can be strengthened and sharpened.”

Posted on July 22, 2021 by Kate Stover

I nearly fell off my chair when I read this statement in Stephen King’s book On Writing. It provides such a sharp contrast to the 20 other books I’ve been reading on the subject of writing memoirs. Because I’m working … Continue reading →

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“Antiracist ideas argue that racist policies are the cause of racial inequities.”

Posted on November 11, 2020 by Kate Stover

It is easier to blame people for making mistakes than it is to consider the role that policies play in determining outcomes. Ibram X. Kendi writes, “Americans have long been trained to see the deficiencies of people rather than policy” … Continue reading →

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“When I was younger, anxiety sometimes flat-out crippled my ability to work.”

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Kate Stover

In every class I teach, there is at least one student who will talk with me at some point about how high levels of anxiety are preventing him or her from completing assignments. This memoir by Andrea Petersen provides a … Continue reading →

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“While most children are proof of their parents’ love, I was the proof of their criminality.”

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Kate Stover

Trevor Noah’s mother was black and his father was white, which was a problem in South Africa in 1984.  The Immorality Act of 1927 prohibited “illicit carnal intercourse between Europeans and natives” and said that such acts could result in … Continue reading →

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“What was consciousness other than the surface of the soul’s ocean?”

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Kate Stover

In a Paris Review interview, Jesse Barron observes that Karl Ove Knausgaard’s work is “so aesthetically forceful as to be revolutionary.” What makes it revolutionary is Knausgaard’s goal to write “as close to life as possible” even if it means … Continue reading →

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“Looking for goshawks is like looking for grace: it comes, but not often, and you don’t get to say when or how.”

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Kate Stover

Simultaneously a “breathtaking memoir” and a “small instant classic of nature writing,” this book juggles multiple themes and techniques. One often-used technique is metaphor: we meet a fellow who is as “serene as a mid-ocean wave” and see the deer … Continue reading →

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“The first element is integrity of intention.”

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Kate Stover

Earlier this week, I attempted the impossible: at an evening writing class for adults, I addressed the topic of “telling the truth.” They wondered how much truth should be revealed. I wish now that I had brought along Inventing the … Continue reading →

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“My memory is an archipelago.”

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Kate Stover

Arranging everything in chronological order in memoirs can be, well, boring. The challenge is finding an alternative structural method that doesn’t bewilder readers. The author of this memoir takes a bold approach: she gives us many tiny stories/reflections/anecdotes as stand-alone … Continue reading →

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“We understand ourselves, our lives, retrospectively.”

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Kate Stover

This is an interesting statement, considering it’s from someone who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for her column “Public and Private,” in which she explored different ways to understand her life and the world at large in the heat … Continue reading →

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“I had to live on the lip of a waterfall, exhausted.”

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Kate Stover

You might expect a coming-of-age book to have a plot, to describe the who-what-when-where-how-and-why. But Annie Dillard is not a typical person, nor is her book a typical memoir. She concentrated on describing how she wanted to notice and remember … Continue reading →

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“The sort of strenuous reading and writing program I advocate — four to six hours a day, every day — will not seem strenuous if you really enjoy doing these things…”

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Kate Stover

Not since Charles Dickens has a writer had so many readers “by the throat,” observed a British review of this classic by Stephen King. Having sold more than 350 million books, King could be considered an expert at many things, … Continue reading →

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“What is the rudest question you can ask a woman?”

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Kate Stover

Tina Fey — arguably one of the funniest, most influential comedians today — says that the rudest question you can ask a woman isn’t about weight or age. It’s a question that men are rarely asked, namely, “How do you … Continue reading →

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“Memory resides in specific details, not in abstract notions like ‘beautiful’ or ‘angry.'”

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Tony Herman

Who better to write a book about writing memoirs than Judith Barrington? She can speak from experience as an author and teacher. In this book, which is widely used in college courses and has sold more than 100,000 copies, she … Continue reading →

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