Reading Memoirs
Iâve always included a steady mix of biography (and autobiography) in my reading diet. Recently, Iâve added in memoirs, which Iâve always felt was easily distinguishable from autobiography.
âan autobiography is a chronological telling of oneâs experience, which should include phases such as childhood, adolescence, adulthood, etc., while a memoir provides a much more specific timeline and a much more intimate relationship to the writerâs own memories, feelings and emotions.â
Over the past few weeks, Iâve read Omarosa Manigault Newmanâs Unhinged: An Insiderâs Account of the Trump White House, Lisa Brennan-Jobs Small Fry, Mark Epsteinâs Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself, and Gail Honeymanâs fictional Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.
While it can be argued that each of these (other than Small Fry) belong in a category other than the memoir, reading each of them resulted in a lot of self-reflection on my part. Front and center was the notion of âan intimate relationship to the writerâs own memories, feelings, and emotions.â
Each had something special in it for me. While I was struggling with my bacterial infection, I had a heightened sense of my own mortality. While I only had one 24 hour period of existential dread, Amy was there beside me and let me talk openly about how I was feeling. I was reading Mark Epsteinâs book at the time that I had this feeling, and many of the messages in it became more precise â and poignant for me.
As I sit at home, on a sunny day in Boulder, I realize how incredibly fortunate I am on many dimensions. Itâs a cliche, but the human condition is extremely complex. Reflecting on other peopleâs struggles, especially in comparison to my own, generates enormous perspective for me. It is in this way that I find memoirs different (and more enriching) than autobiography.
For me, itâs not about the meaning someone else ascribes to their life, or the history a third person tells about someone, but how oneâs self-reflection helps inform, enhance, and evolve the meaning I give to my life.
Also published on Medium.