2. Contemporary Memoir Terry Locke © 2015 Taylor & Francis

3. Revisiting the concept of genre Genres are social processes. Texts are patterned in reasonably predictable ways according to patterns of social interaction in a particular culture. Social patterning and textual patterning meet as genres. Genres are textual interventions in society; and society itself would be nothing without language in all its patterned predictability. It follows that genres are not simply created by individuals in the moment of their utterance; to have meaning, they must be social. Individual speakers and writers act within a cultural context and with a knowledge of the different social effects of different types of oral and written text (p. 7). Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis © 2015 Taylor & Francis

4. More definitions Genres are not just text types, but “typical rhetorical engagements with recurring situations” Aviva Freedman and Peter Medway My definition: The formalization of maker/reader complicities as reflected in a range of relatively stable textual features. © 2015 Taylor & Francis

5. Describing a genre: 1. Context of culture 2. Context of situation 3. Function/purpose 4. Typical content 5. Features Layout Diction Punctuation Syntax Structure © 2015 Taylor & Francis

6. Example: Hyperpoetics Hyperpoetics © 2015 Taylor & Francis

7. Defining a memoir Deductively: A memoir is a piece of autobiographical writing, usually shorter in nature than a comprehensive autobiography. The memoir, especially as it is being used in publishing today, often tries to capture 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. Nancy E. Zuwiyya (2006) [http://inkspell.homestead.com/memoir.html] Inductively: See Kirby & Kirby, p. 24; Eickholdt, pp. 2 – 3. © 2015 Taylor & Francis

8. “In most good memoirs, the writer is using the genre to do more than just remember or describe people and events. Readers have the sense that memoirists use the form to experiment, solve puzzles and riddles present in their lives, pose sometimes unanswerable questions, and advance hypotheses and what ifs about their lived experiences.” Kirby and Kirby, p. 23. © 2015 Taylor & Francis

9. “CM engages students in narrative writing but also requires them to examine and reflect — key elements in exposition. In this way, CM may serve as the missing link between personal narrative and expository writing that teachers have sought for decades.” Kirby and Kirby, p. 25) © 2015 Taylor & Francis

10. A focus on structure “Many of these texts derive their...sense of artistic unity through conventional narrative structures...such as the narrative arc with its blueprint of introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement.” Kirby and Kirby, p. 24. © 2015 Taylor & Francis

11. Narrative elements Predicament: A difficult choice, often early in a narrative, where a character is presented with a choice involving unpalatable options. Conflict: A situation where the interests of characters or groups of characters are opposed. Complication: An unexpected problem or misfortune that interrupts the smooth flow of action of a story. Resolution: A choice or event which sorts out a complication, one way or another. Rising Action: The suspenseful part of a story leading up to its climax. Turning Point: A crucial choice or event which changes the course of a story in a radical way. Climax: The decisive moment in a story towards which events appear to be heading. Denouement: The process of unravelling or winding down that occurs in the aftermath of a story’s climax © 2015 Taylor & Francis

12. Structure as prompt for writing Group task: Explore possible memoir structure giving rise to particular kinds of plots utilising particular kinds of content. Think of the age of pupils you’re designing this prompt for. © 2015 Taylor & Francis