Memory or Reminiscence

Formal Autobiographies usually focus on the entire life-span of the author. Traditionally, older memoirs were written by famous people, and focused on one aspect of their lives, like their careers. Modern memoirs often focus on one aspect of a person’s life, or one time period in their life when something remarkable happened to them.

Booker T. Washington wrote a famous autobiography which taught people what his life was like as a slave. Tennis legend Andre Agassi wrote a book about his life.

Some people who are not really writers use “ghost writers” - this is a professional writer who helps them organize and edit what they are writing. Impossible for avg. readers to know how much influence a ghost writer had. Sometimes ghost writers are identified and sometimes they aren’t. Readers have to trust that the writer is being honest, and is telling the “whole” truth. We don’t know if there is a hidden agenda by the author.

Traditionally, memoirs were used by famous people to talk about one aspect of their lives. A politician might focus on his military career. A celebrity might focus on her acting career.

Winston Churchill wrote a book that focused on his life during World War II Rosie O’donnell wrote a book about one particular period of her career when she struggled.

Walking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence, by Matthew Sanford Tells the story of a young man whose life was forever changed by a car accident at age 13 when he lost is father, his sister and his legs.

Thin Places, a memoir, By Mary E. DeMuth Growing up in the 1970's with her emotionally distant and thrice married mother, the author tries to understand the death of her father and the sexual abuse she endured.

In the world of Contemporary Literature, memoirs have become quite popular.