1. Memoir and Truth “the purpose of writing is to enhance mystery, not solve it.” -Tim O’Brien

2. Journal for Today Take 5 minutes to write about an event that changed your life (or a memory that you still have from childhood). Describe it in as much detail as possible. Don’t leave anything out.

3. Two Truths and a Lie On a scrap sheet of paper, write down two truths and a lie about yourself. With your partner, share your three things without letting them know which one is a lie…let them guess! The “good liar” will then find someone else to pair with. Repeat until there are only two people left!

4. Does a story need to be a work of non-fiction to be a work of truth?

5. Metafiction Fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality –Patricia Waugh, Metafiction: The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction.New York: Methuen, 1984.

6. Verisimilitude The quality of realism in something

7. Melodrama Exaggerated emotions, stereotypical characters and interpersonal (between individuals) conflicts

8. James Frey Controversy Read “A Million Little Lies” and write your opinion about what James Frey did. Was he wrong to exaggerate in a memoir? Oprah Interview

9. Lies in A Million Little Pieces Was involved in accident that killed a schoolmate (although he knew her) Served a few hours in prison instead of a few months Account of arrests He had a root canal procedure done without anesthesia (he did have the procedure done, however) Questions those he knew in treatment facility (he can’t reveal their names to protect their anonymity

10. Get in your groups.

11. Top 10 Infamous Fake Memoirs http://listverse.com/2010/03/06/top-10- infamous-fake-memoirs/http://listverse.com/2010/03/06/top-10- infamous-fake-memoirs/ Saturday, March 6 th 2010 by Skeratch aka Scratch A memoir can hardly be expected to contain the whole truth. Memories are faulty and the authors, of course, are presenting their own personal view of themselves. But faulty memories, omission, and slight exaggeration are far different than completely warping the truth or creating an entirely imaginary life. Whatever their motivation, many people have published false memoirs and many more people have unknowingly and ardently supported them. When the memoir is revealed as false, a surprisingly common reaction is to appeal to the emotional truth of the story. It ’ s about how we feel in our guts, not what reality dictates. I submit that such ideas are dangerous and should be strongly opposed. The truth is important, and it should not be sacrificed for romantic notions rooted in irrationalism. We read and create true stories of triumph and tragedy all of the time, but if we have the urge to dramatize real events we can: it ’ s called fiction. Below are ten false memoirs in chronological order.

12. In your groups… Read the information on the memoir assigned. Summarize the information on a separate sheet of paper and decide, as a group, whether you think it was wrong of the author to present his/her book as a memoir when part of it was fiction. Decide on a RECORDER to write this down and a PRESENTER to share your opinion with the class. On your poster, you should have: –Title, Author –Notes on Falsehoods –Opinion of whether or not the author was morally wrong

13. Long Lance, 1928

14. Papillon, 1969

15. Go Ask Alice, 1971

16. The Education of Little Tree: a True Story, 1976

17. The Hitler Diaries, 1983

18. Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years, 1997

19. Forbidden Love, 2003

20. Love and Consequences, 2008

21. Angel at the Fence, 2009 (cancelled)

22. Rewrite your memory After our discussion today, how accurate to the truth was your memory of an experience that changed you? Now (and for homework if you don’t finish), rewrite your memory of the experience, adding details and elaborating so that your audience can feel what you felt when it happened (even if it’s not exactly what happened.