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Memoir. Mr. Razzak. What is a Memoir?. What word does Memoir remind you of? Memory. Memoir. a record of events written by a person having intimate knowledge of them and based on personal observation Usually, memoirs. an account of one's personal life and experiences; autobiography.
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Memoir Mr. Razzak
What is a Memoir? What word does Memoir remind you of? Memory
Memoir • a record of events written by a person having intimate knowledge of them and based on personal observation • Usually, memoirs. • an account of one's personal life and experiences; autobiography. • the published record of the proceedings of a group or organization, as of a learned society.
Memoir • Not just an autobiography • captures certain highlights or meaningful moments in one's past, often including a contemplation of the meaning of that event at the time of the writing of the memoir • emotional and concerned with capturing particular scenes
Characteristics of the Memoir Form • focus on a brief period of time or series of related events • Narrative structure, including many of the usual elements of storytelling such as plot, character, conflict, theme, setting, imagery, foreshadowing and flashback, and irony and symbolism • The writer's contemplation of the meaning of these events in retrospect • A fictional quality even though the story is true • Higher emotional level • More personal reconstruction of the events and their impact • Therapeutic experience for the memoirist, especially when the memoir is of the crisis or survival type of memoir
Good Memoirs are… • "A good memoir requires two elements--one of art, the other of craft. The first is integrity of intention. . . . Memoir is how we try to make sense of who we are, who we once were, and what values and heritage shaped us. If a writer seriously embarks on that quest, readers will be nourished by the journey, bringing along many associations with quests of their own.
Memoirs must have… • "The other element is carpentry. Good memoirs are a careful act of construction. We like to think that an interesting life will simply fall into place on the page. It won't. . . . Memoir writers must manufacture a text, imposing narrative order on a jumble of half-remembered events."
Memoirs can be • Chapter books • Picture books • Articles • Essays • Poems