As I read through other people's blog posts, I couldn't help but realize that a lot of us are thinking in terms of us. Maybe that's the point of memoirs. To read about somebody else's life through the lens of you--what I bring to the table when I read: my history, my thoughts, my beliefs. Everybody takes something different from a memoir and it's interesting to see what and why that is.
The more I read about other people's documented history and perspectives, the more I think about my own. How much do I really know about my family? I know the basic history, but I'm sure there is more. My great-grandmother immigrated to America from Italy and got her eye shot out by a bullet machine while she was working in a factory in WWII. But, should I wrote a memoir on her? What makes something memoir worthy? If there is a story to tell, write it--but there is ALWAYS a story to tell.
I'm curious to find out what prompted Joseph Hurka to write this memoir. Obviously, I read the book and know the events that lead up to it but was there one incendiary detail? Was there something he found out and he couldn't let it go unexplored, undocumented, unwritten? Perhaps, the sad faces he describes his Czech family as having--exhausted and worn down. Was there something that made him want to continue? His dad working for the Resistance, seeing his grandmother's grave in Zebrak...what made him continue through this hard past?
Also, I was interested in the integration of Vaclav Havel's first major speech as president. He worked that in really well. I'm in an archival research class this semester and have been doing a lot of creative nonfiction writing. The way he works in historical text and familial reactions and emotions is done very admirably.
Moral of the story, I can't stop thinking about my family and my family history the more I read about other people's. What if mine is super memoir-worthy?
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