Found this from the latest Writers Victoria e-newsletter (@writersvictoria). For those, like me, who often wonder how memoir is different from autobiography.
“Many new writers feel a pull towards memoir because they have a compelling story from their own life to tell. And there is a substantial appetite for memoir… Memoir differs from autobiography in that it is not a straightforward chronological account of a life, but one that reaches for an emotional truth within a specific period or live event. In this, it’s closer to fiction. The memoir writer must shape a story and adopt a narrative persona who draws the reader into their world.”
Interestingly, while searching for an image to go along with this post, I found the following quote from the “Memoir” page in Wikipedia:
“A memoir…is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author’s personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual… A biography or autobiography tells the story ‘of a life’, while a memoir often tells the story of a particular career, event, or time, such as touchstone moments and turning points in the author’s life.”
It goes on to say that in the early 1990s, memoirs written by ordinary people experienced an upsurge. These days, memoir writing is seen as a way to “pass down a personal legacy”. It reminds me of this book I recently purchased for a senior family member, in my attempt to encourage them to record their life story on paper, before everything fades away. I happen to have translated this Chinese-language book into English in 2016-2017. See HERE and HERE.
Voices under the Sun 陽光下的聲音 