A compact, pithy guide to the most popular form of life-writing, Memoir: An Introduction provides a primer to the ubiquitous literary form and its many subgenres. Each year brings a glut of new memoirs, ranging from works by former teachers and celebrity has-beens to disillusioned soldiers and bestselling novelists. In addition to becoming bestsellers in their own right, memoirs have become a popular object of inquiry in the academy and a mainstay in most MFA workshops. Courses in what is now called life-writing study memoir alongside personal essays, diaries, and autobiographies. Memoir: An Introduction proffers aconcise history ofthe genre (and its many subgenres) while taking readers through the various techniques, themes, and debates that have come to characterize the ubiquitous literary form. Its fictional origins are traced to eighteenth-century British novels like Robinson Crusoe and Tom Jones; its early American roots areexamined in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography and eighteenth-century captivity narratives; and its ethical conundrums are considered with analyses of the imbroglios brought on by the questionable claims in Rigoberta Mench's I, Rigoberta, and more notoriously, James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. Alongside these more traditional literary forms, Couser expands the discussion of memoir toinclude film with what he calls "documemoir" (exemplified in NathanielKahn's My Architect), and graphic narratives like Art Spiegleman's Maus. In sum, Memoir: An Introduction provides a succinct and comprehensive survey to today's most popular form of life-writing. AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. What Memoir Is, and What Memoir Isn't2. Memoir and Genre3. Memoir's Forms4. Memoir's Ethics5. Memoir's American Roots6. Contemporary American Memoir7. The Work of MemoirWorks CitedIndex
- ISBN: 978-0-19-982692-6
- Editorial: Oxford University
- Encuadernacion: Rústica
- Páginas: 224
- Fecha Publicación: 05/01/2012
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés