Madeline: What does the Memoir Revolution mean? Why is it important?
Jerry: The Memoir Revolution is my name for the groundswell of interest in reading and writing life stories. I believe that this is an important development for our culture, a renaissance that teaches us how to use the ancient power of Story to interpret our own lives.
As the collective interest in memoirs continues to grow, more and more of us are discovering the value of it for ourselves. The Memoir Revolution helps us pull together our memories, teaches us how to find stories within them, and use those stories to connect with others.
Fiction is mainly in third person so when we read novels, we observe characters from outside themselves. Memoirs take us inside the character’s point of view. That’s a radical difference. Entering into the protagonist’s mind lets us feel what it’s like to be someone else.
Jerry: They both rely on the structure of Story. I first began to understand the power of this structure about 20 years ago, when I heard about the mythologist Joseph Campbell, According to him, humans have always used Story to make sense of life. Campbell’s wave keeps rippling throughout the culture. Recently, a book by Brian Boyd called On the Origin of Stories makes the case that storytelling was an important aspect of human evolution.
Madeline: What is your favorite memoir and why?
Jerry: I have so many favorites. The one I happen to be reading at any given time is almost always my favorite at that moment, because I enjoy watching the story unfold. When I look back through the list of ones I’ve read, many jump out on top, like a parent who is proud of all the kids. I think of each one as my favorite within its own category.
Madeline: Thanks for those great recommendations. I now have a lot of reading to do. So, how is memoir evolving even today?
Jerry: What a great question. And a difficult one, because the answer depends on what corner of the memoir world you are watching. Not every corner is evolving.
Academic writing programs continue to deepen their students’ appreciation for the literary aspects of memoir. The publishing industry is troubling. For a while at the beginning of the trend, it looked like they were moving more and more toward the well-written lives of ordinary people. Now, with the contraction of bookstores and the advent of eBooks, they seem to be tending more than ever toward predictable commercial success. This need for sure winners seems to trap them in a search for celebrity and news.
I think the real evolution is not in the genre but in the culture, as more and more of us are interested in reading about other people’s lives and considering the possibility of writing about our own.
Jerry: Keep in mind that in the commercial publishing world, the publisher makes a huge financial commitment to bring a book to market. To earn back their money, they need to sell a lot of books. So when agents consider which books to represent, they must take into account factors like whether or not you are famous, or whether your particular issue is hot right now. It has become increasingly difficult for traditional publishers to gamble on ordinary people, even when their stories are unique and well told.
The good news for memoir writers is that our options for self-publishing have sky-rocketed. However, these new methods of publishing come with additional responsibilities. Finding readers falls largely on our own shoulders, so in addition to learning the craft and finishing books, we now must educate ourselves about book marketing.
[…] a two-part interview with him in September 2013 about the role of memoir in our lives today (here and here). At that time he also discussed his wonderful and very informative book about memoir […]