Bibliograph

The art of memoir, Mary Karr

Type

Label

The art of memoir, Mary Karr

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references

resource.biographical

contains biographical information

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The art of memoir

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

899226601

Responsibility statement

Mary Karr

Summary

Author of three memoirs of her own, Mary Karr synthesizes her expertise as graduate writing professor and therapy patient, writer and spiritual seeker, recovered alcoholic and "black belt sinner, " providing an irreverent window into the mechanics and art of the form. Anchored by excerpts from her favorite memoirs and anecdotes from fellow writers' experience, The Art of Memoir lays bare Karr's own process

Table Of Contents

Caveat emptor -- Preface: welcome to my chew toy -- The past's vigor -- The truth contract twixt writer and reader -- Why not to write a memoir: plus a pop quiz to protect the bleeding & box out the rigid -- A voice conjures the human who utters it -- Don't try this at home: the seductive, narcissistic count -- Sacred carnality -- How to choose a detail -- Hucksters, the deluded, and big fat liars -- Interiority and inner enemy: private agonies read deeper than external whammies -- On finding the nature of your talent -- The visionary Maxine Hong Kingston -- Dealing with beloveds (on and off the page) -- On information, facts, and data -- Personal run-ins with fake voices -- On book structure and the order of information -- The road to hell is paved with exaggeration -- Blind spots and false selves -- Truth hunger: the public and private burning of Kathryn Harrison -- Old-school technologies for the stalled novice -- Major reversals in Cherry and Lit -- Why memoirs fail -- An incomplete checklist to stave off dread -- Michael Herr: start in Kansas, end in Oz -- Against vanity: in praise of revision

Classification