Memoir..And What Not

I spent all of yesterday working on a set of scenes for a nonfiction project I'm working on.  I always disliked the idea of writing a memoir.  It seemed to me rather self-absorbed and indulgent.  But my writing, after Harper and June came, just sort of tailored itself from fiction to nonfiction and I've come to the realization that there is value in memoir and writing about oneself, insomuch as it can be related to, and learned from, by others.

Adair Lara has a nice little book on the craft of creative nonfiction.  Where there are lots of things in it that I've had to skip over (your very basic "how to write well" sections)  There is a lot of great information as well.  Coming primarily from a background of writing fiction, there are a lot of things that I've missed out on, having concentrated most of my advanced class work in fiction.  But what grabbed me from the beginning was in the introduction.  Adair talks about Carl Jung and his idea of the collective versus the personal unconscious.  This resonated with me, as my first few years in an undergraduate program were as a Psychology major.  I liked the philosophy and the theoretical parts of the field, although I knew straight away that practice would not be for me.  But I gained a lot of interesting knowledge in areas like Personality and Abnormal theory.

In any case, what Adair says is that creative nonfiction - memoir - is justified when what one contributes to the world (Jung's collective unconscious) through one's own writing (one's personal unconscious) is relatable and instructive.  When we can write our stories and at the same time interpret them, teach what we've learned through our own mistakes, memoir can be a powerful tool not only for personal growth and healing, but for that of others as well.

I like that!  And it makes me feel far less like a navel-gazer when I write from my own life.  It can be difficult, not relying on the safety that fiction provides, but it has been liberating as well.

Anyone have a favorite memoir?  One that has influenced them in a personal way?  Leave a comment!