Thanks Joan. Good question - does too much honesty make us less not more interesting. There's certainly a degree of egoism in the trend for soul-baring memoir. And yes, I think it springs from the use of 'journalling' in therapy, and the therapeutic conversation.
Of course the more such memoirs are written, the more people will realise that their problems are not unique. Some intimate memoirs have had an effect on society - Springora's book Consent drew attention to deficiencies in French law around that issue, and to the protection of child abusers among the 'intelligentsia'.
In some ways what we are seeing, I think, is a reaction to the veil of secrecy, silence, and shame, that hung over certain areas of human experience and health. Inevitably, some accounts will be well written, some less so. The digital dissemination of information has increased this 'openness' but the backlash to that is beginning. We may eventually retreat to a greater appreciation of privacy, which is different from secrecy.
There is also the question of popularity and publishers pandering to a demand, without always being discriminating about the quality. Conversely, do the readers of these memoirs look for good writing or for a shared experience? Perhaps too it replaces the popularity of published diaries and personal correspondence. There is an abiding interest in detailed accounts of people's intimate lives.
The 'confessional' writers of the 60s and 70s, including Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, were writers first who chose to express their particular suffering in poetry and fiction.
My hunch is that the best, and truest, of this writing will persist. If it brings about positive changes in society that is a good thing.
Really interesting.I find my children’s generation of memoirs or autobiography more like therapy conversations which seem to speak to younger generation as being wonderfully honest but somehow I feel tiresome.I am wondering if too much honesty exposing ourselves in an egoistic way destroys the magic of our individualism.Or perhaps they are just bad writers?
Thank you for your generous comment! Yes false memory is definitely an issue to consider in the writing and reading of a biography. A tricky thing to nail down unless there are enough witnesses around to correct the record. I like the title of Vladimir Nabokov's autobiography: Speak, Memory which kind of sums up the problem. He has a lot to say about Freud too describing him as an old quack!
Do read The Prelude preferably the 1805 version - the middle one - as the last one is a bit more pietistic and therefore less energetic. Let me know how you get on with it!
What a fascinating question... in considering it there is also the phenomenon of the false memory, which has become quite true to the holder. You have encouraged me - albeit unwittingly - to adding Prelude to my reading list! Thank you as always for sharing your superbly researched and informed insights!
Thanks Joan. Good question - does too much honesty make us less not more interesting. There's certainly a degree of egoism in the trend for soul-baring memoir. And yes, I think it springs from the use of 'journalling' in therapy, and the therapeutic conversation.
Of course the more such memoirs are written, the more people will realise that their problems are not unique. Some intimate memoirs have had an effect on society - Springora's book Consent drew attention to deficiencies in French law around that issue, and to the protection of child abusers among the 'intelligentsia'.
In some ways what we are seeing, I think, is a reaction to the veil of secrecy, silence, and shame, that hung over certain areas of human experience and health. Inevitably, some accounts will be well written, some less so. The digital dissemination of information has increased this 'openness' but the backlash to that is beginning. We may eventually retreat to a greater appreciation of privacy, which is different from secrecy.
There is also the question of popularity and publishers pandering to a demand, without always being discriminating about the quality. Conversely, do the readers of these memoirs look for good writing or for a shared experience? Perhaps too it replaces the popularity of published diaries and personal correspondence. There is an abiding interest in detailed accounts of people's intimate lives.
The 'confessional' writers of the 60s and 70s, including Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, were writers first who chose to express their particular suffering in poetry and fiction.
My hunch is that the best, and truest, of this writing will persist. If it brings about positive changes in society that is a good thing.
Really interesting.I find my children’s generation of memoirs or autobiography more like therapy conversations which seem to speak to younger generation as being wonderfully honest but somehow I feel tiresome.I am wondering if too much honesty exposing ourselves in an egoistic way destroys the magic of our individualism.Or perhaps they are just bad writers?
Thank you for your generous comment! Yes false memory is definitely an issue to consider in the writing and reading of a biography. A tricky thing to nail down unless there are enough witnesses around to correct the record. I like the title of Vladimir Nabokov's autobiography: Speak, Memory which kind of sums up the problem. He has a lot to say about Freud too describing him as an old quack!
Do read The Prelude preferably the 1805 version - the middle one - as the last one is a bit more pietistic and therefore less energetic. Let me know how you get on with it!
What a fascinating question... in considering it there is also the phenomenon of the false memory, which has become quite true to the holder. You have encouraged me - albeit unwittingly - to adding Prelude to my reading list! Thank you as always for sharing your superbly researched and informed insights!