Week 5: This Is My Truth, Told By Me
Fluidity in a memoir is a necessary tactic to move the story forward by creating intriguing emotion that pulls the reader in. I believe it effects the craft of writing a memoir in an incredibly positive light because it makes the embellishments of the story and its characters. I do not believe fluidity alter the facts of a memoir because the fabrication of the truth does not mean it is not factual.
One of my favorite memoirs is by
Jesmyn Ward titled Men We Reaped. This is not a traditional novel that
reads in chronological order but instead she recalls her life through the five
men she has lost within five years of each other. Ward talks about death,
murder, suicide along grief and how that affected her life decision moving
forward.
“And
then we heard the rain falling, and that was the drops of blood falling; and
when we came to get the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.”
When I began reading this novel
the first page had a disclaimer stating that most if not all names of the
characters besides Jesmyn had been changed to ensure privacy to those written
in the book. So, blurring the lines between fact and fiction was never an issue
for me in this novel because the true identities of the lives lost were not as
important than the story and how Jesmyn recalls that period of her life. Fluidity
in this novel stretches the truth but is needed to protect the actual events of
the story.
I believe this memoir would transfer
over great into a blog if done the correct way and with purpose. These are
actual events that occurred but yet tragic to remember. The blog could work my
only suggest would not allow for the reader to critique the pain of loss. Sometimes
it is best to read something once and continue about your day because I personally
would not want a stranger questioning me about the truthfulness of my grief. Overall,
it could be helpful to others and therapeutic to Jesmyn to put her feelings out
there to cherish and remember those she lost but also the ones she loved.
I agree with your stance on fluidity. Boring writing leads to a boring story. A writer needs to have a voice. The words should jump off the page. The reader's attention must be grabbed. Exaggeration and embellishment enhance the truth sometimes. That's alright. Facts are still facts. Stories are stories.
ReplyDeleteYour review of Men We Reaped indicated this is a powerful read. I like the vehicle the writer uses to tell the story as straight up chronological works well for some stories but not others.
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