Memoir: A History - is that like a memoir's memoir?
Memoir is one of today’s most popular genres, and biographer/nonfiction writer Ben Yagoda delves into its appeal in his new book Memoir: A History. The book offers a history of memoir throughout the centuries, from The Confessions of St. Augustine to James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces. It also examines why our culture seems so obsessed with reading about other people’s lives – memoir sales grew 400% from 2004-2008, but Yagoda demonstrates that our voyeuristic desire to read about others is nothing new. In the 1930s, memoirs by ordinary citizens were the rage, whereas today celebrities get all the attention. Yagoda discusses these changing trends as he traces the memoir’s evolution.
Critics credit Yagoda for his in-depth exploration of the genre’s roots, but they wish he spent more time addressing the role of truth in memoir. He broaches the topic in the book’s final pages, suggesting that absolute truth is not the most essential element of a great memoir, but for some critics this probe was too little too late.
“The best part of this all-too-restrained history, the last two pages, is where Yagoda drops his historian’s mask and companionably shares his thoughts. Truth is the least of memoir, he suggests, though truth can’t be dispensed with.” – Judith Shulevitz, New York Times
“[Yagoda's] new book will appeal to history fans curious about memoir more than to memoir fans curious about history.” – Craig Fehrman, The Christian Science Monitor
“[Yagoda] brings plenty of verve to the story, and he throws useful light on such themes as the tangled relationship between memoirs and the rise of the novel, or the history of the term ‘autobiography’ itself.” – John Gross, The Wall Street Journal
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