Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir | 
|  | | | Title: | Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir | | Author: | William Zinsser | | Publisher: | Mariner Books | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 20 May, 1998 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0395901502 / 9780395901502 | | List Price: | $13.95 | | You Save: | $2.79 | | Amazon Price: | $11.16 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
In this perfect companion for anyone beguiled by memoirs or embarking on writing one, nine distinguished authors -- Russell Baker, Jill Ker Conway, Annie Dillard, Ian Frazier, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alfred Kazin, Frank McCourt, Toni Morrison, and Eileen Simpson -- reflect on the writing process.
Amazon.com
Every time Inventing the Truth appears in a new edition, editor William Zinsser can't help but add to it. The first edition (1987) evolved from a series of New York Public Library talks, for which the mandate was not to lecture about the genre of the memoir but to explain how a specific memoir came to be written. In the book's 1995 edition, Russell Baker, Annie Dillard, Alfred Kazin, and Toni Morrison were joined by Jill Ker Conway, Eileen Simpson, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Ian Frazier. This time around, Zinsser has added a rich and charming reminiscence by Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes). The authors do stick to their assignment: Russell Baker credits his huge family with helping him "learn a lot about humanity from close-up observation"; Jill Ker Conway talks about her desire to write a female memoir that was not a romantic happily-ever-after; and Henry Louis Gates Jr. discusses "want[ing] to write a book that imitated the specialness of black culture when no white people are around." But there is also plenty of advice for writers here, and some general thoughts about the genre. Conway addresses the difficulty of "going back as a historian" and trying to understand "all the things you took as a given when you were a child." Gates warns us to "be prepared for the revelation of things you don't even dream are going to come up." And Annie Dillard contemplates the strangeness of spending "more time writing about [a scene or an event] than you did living it." --Jane Steinberg
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Customer Reviews:
• So You Want To Write A Memoir? 01 June, 2002
Memoir writers Russell Baker, Annie Dillard, Alfred Kazin, Toni Morrison, and Lewis Thomas share their thoughts on writing memoir. The chapters are taken from a series of talks given on the subject.The authors point out that memoir is not biography. The hardest thing about writing memoir, they agree, is not deciding what to put in, but what to leave out.They point to Emerson, Thoreau, Twain, and each other as models of good memoir writers. Annie Dillard says that she writes memoir to fashion a text. She advises that those who want to preserve memories will avoid writing memoir since the act of writing an event often takes more time than the event itself. She compares writing to taking care of a baby. "You don't take care of a baby out of will-power, you do it out of love," she says. It's the same, she says, with writing.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1CPGZWOXQ0QRI
• On Writing A Memoir 07 December, 2000
According to Webster, the definition of memoir is "a biographical sketch, usually one written by someone who knows the subject well." It is from the Latin word memoria, meaning memory. But in Inventing the Truth, Annie Dillard says, "Don't hope in a memoir to preserve your memories. If you prize your memories as they are by all means avoid--eschew--writing a memoir" (70). Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir is a sort of instructional anthology composed of six chapters written by six authors. The purpose of this book, edited and introduced by William Zinsser, is to give writers different perspectives on how to write a memoir. If you are writing a memoir, or even just thinking about writing one, this book will be helpful to you. It contains examples of good memoir writing, advice on what to put in and what to leave out, and an overview of the process of writing a memoir. The advice given by William Zinsser and the other five contributors to Inventing the Truth pertains mostly to organizing memories. Annie Dillard's chapter entitled "To Fashion a Text" is very focused on memoir writing, and would not prove useful to the average Joe. However, Lewis Thomas' chapter called "A Long Line of Cells" would be interesting for anyone to read. Unless you are thinking about writing a memoir, this book probably will not entirely interest you.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A15ONAT0TWC1TA
• Capturing Memories 07 December, 2001
Capturing Your Memories In the book Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Writing a Memoir William Zinsser along with other well renown authors take the reader through the writing process of a memoir. The book is divided into six sections individually composed by each author. In their own words they describe how to create a memoir that will be interesting, fluid, and accurate. A memoir is not just the facts as they are, but the facts as you experienced them. There are many other pieces of advice through out the book that add to the reader's knowledge of writing a memoir. William Zinsser is a well renowned author and teacher. He has written and been editor for the New York Herald Tribune, and Life Magazine. Zinsser has also taught non-fiction writing at Yale University. In his book Inventing the Truth Zinsser gathers advice from many talented and experienced authors. They not only offer up advice but also describe their own trials and tribulations throughout the process. From Zinsser's boyhood in Long Island to Thomas's interpretation of evolution the book Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Writing a Memoir gives comfortable and informative lessons that a writer will find useful.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2RC1SXU8CO8DJ
• To Learn By Example From Experts 25 January, 2008
As a personal and corporate biographer, I hear many different life stories and have learned that no one approach or format fits all. This collection of essays is a splendid example of how different individuals see their lives in their own ways. The essays together also serve to reassure any would-be memoirist that there is no one Right Way to write about your life experiences. When I was very young, I read Dr. Zhivago and wrote a fan letter to the author, Boris Pasternak. In his response, he wrote to me: "And if a letter like yours arrives, it is as if... the person of the sender should rise to her full height from the bottom of the letter wrapped in words and letters and thoughts like in a dress." The Zinsser collection of essays illustrates the importance of the writer coming right off the page "wrapped in words and letters and thoughts."
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3N3CRPBZS0LNX
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