Response to Wiesel

I believe that Elie Wiesel's memoir Night has more relevance to the readers than if it were to be told as solely a historical account. I believe this because many people have read, or been taught about the Holocaust. People find out about it and feel whole-heartedly that it was an abhorrent time in history that marred the existence of humanity forever. They genuinely feel that way, and yet, they are able to distance themselves from what had happened. They all feel that they know how they would act in such situations, how they would respond. It is very easy to judge from an outsiders, very distanced point of view. It is easy to say thing in retrospect when you are looking at things solely with a historical eye. When you are looking through the lense of a human being who has lived through the concentration camps, and he is demystifying all of your pretences surrounding the Holocaust, and making it real for all of his readers, it becomes more relevant for the reader than any text book written on the subject. This is a live account. This could have been your family, your mother and sister taken away from you and burned alive. It could have been your father who you clung to for so long, and in the end felt that you had failed him and could not forgive yourself. It is a story of humanity and it's faults and weaknesses, along with all of it's triumphs and love.

I have written briefly about violence against me and my sisters. I feel that it is a very hard thing to write about. I feel that it can be therapeutic if you let it, but you have to be willing to feel all of the emotions that you are writing about and the ones that are in between the lines. I feel that when I am writing about such hard things that at first I am trying to keep myself distanced from the person (even if it is me) by characterizing them. But then I start to remember more and more things and I get into a depressed state. I have to remind myself that it is a reflective piece and that I have survived whatever it is that I am writing about as well as I am a better person now. I also have found writing about such events makes it easier to deal with the past, but again, one has to be willing to let it help, by being ok with whatever feelings one is feeling. I feel that writing about such things sometimes brings about new epiphanies that have always been welcomed, even if that welcome mat wasn't laid out until much later.

Over the course of this semester we have read several books, all relating difficult and/or disturbing events in their lives. Not once have I thought that the author's story or they way in which they have written it was maudlin. I have always thought that it was relevant, and I believe that I feel this way because every author has had the larger truth that they are writing about. If there wasn't a larger truth than it would be a different story. I feel that each book that we have read has built upon the ideas discussed in class which makes Elie Wiesel's memoir my favorite. I also feel that Weisel's book is my favorite because of it's vast scope and world wide involvement in the larger truth--humanity. It is very relevant today, as we need constant
reminders us where to never go again, as well as a possible beacon on how to help with Darfur and other countries that are dealing with genocide. This historical/personal memoir is a very tough, but very necessary read for everyone.

Henry Thoreau (Walden) Response

After reading Thoreau's chapter, "Where I Live and What I Lived For" I feel that his book Walden could be considered a memoir if he actually talked more about his experiences. I felt that this chapter should not have been chapter two, but should have been the epilogue. It seemed to me that this chapter summarized not why he went there, but more importantly what he learned from his living experiment. I am not convinced that Thoureau didn't go out into nature because he knew that he wanted to live every day to the fullest and being apart of nature (as much as he "could" be) was his way of doing this. I feel that he wanted something more out of life and then after living in nature for the extended period in which he did, he was able to write such an articulate and beautiful chapter. But as it stands, if all of the chapters were written like this chapter I am not sure that I would consider the book as a whole to be a memoir. I would consider it more as a book of reflections coupled with a "how to live a better life" manual. Yes, the author, as well as the reader, should learn something after a memoir (at least I believe so) but it shouldn't be spelled out, as Thoreau did.

I definitely gain insight about Thoreau after reading this. I find that he is a lover of nature and the wonderful creatures that reside within nature. I find out that he wants to truly live this life to the fullest. He wants to be awake for the entirety of this life, and to experience his experiences. He wants to be one of the million, who is actually awake and changing this world. To be honest I wasn't really liking what I was reading until I got to this part of the chapter, talking about sucking the morrow out of the bones of life. I had heard this before, but for some reason it really struck me when it was in context of the chapter. It endeared Thoreau to me. I too want to live life to the fullest, while changing the world that we live in for the better. It was beautiful because Thoreau was not saying, "eat, drink and be merry" he was saying, you are alive and have a moral obligation to live this life to the fullest. He spoke of changing this world, He was practicing what he preached as can be seen by his other works speaking against slavery, and for the rights of an untouched nature.

Nabokov Response

In the excerpts I read from Nabokov's butterfly bliss, that is Speak, Memory, I was cocooned in the most beautiful linguistic imagery. His obsessive love of butterflies is richly conveyed through his carefully chosen words. I do not believe that Nabokov would have been able to have the same effect on his readers had he chosen to utilize McCourt's craftily chosen child's voice.

Nabokov, like McCourt, is older when he is telling his story. Unlike McCourt, who tells his story as if he is young again, Nabokov is looking back on his childhood. I believe there is a longing for that childhood, but like the butterfly who has patiently grown from a caterpillar into a this new beautiful being (almost Phoenix like) Nabokov has masterfully grown in his writing. Because he knows how to use language as a paint brush, he knows that there is no other way for him to write about his beloved butterflies. I believe he feels that if he were to write about his butterflies from a child-like perspective, that something would be lost, and that something would be the butterflies. Writing in a child's tone, the reader focuses more on the reader, Nabokov wanted his readers to focus on what he was infatuated with. He wanted his beautiful language to mirror the beauty of the butterflies. He succeeds.

Anyway, on my butterfly hunts I always preferred hiking to any other form of locomotion (except, naturally, a flying seat gliding leisurely over the plant mats and rocks of an unexplored mountain, or hovering just above the flowery roof of a rain forest); for when you walk, especially in a region you have studied well, there is an exquisite pleasure in departing from one's itinerary to visit, here and there by the wayside, this glade, that glen, this or that combination of soil and flora--to drop in, as it were, on a familiar butterfly in his particular habitat, in order to see if he has emerged, and if so, how he is doing. Nabokov is a very articulate and eloquent writer. He is a master of his craft, which can be seen in this paragraph. This paragraph is a story on it's own. It is beautifully written with the comma's, semicolon, parenthesis and even a dash. He is making you take a hike with him through his writing. It is a beautiful paragraph.

I want to write a memoir and although I think there are times when a child's voice might be more appropriate or have more of the punch that I am looking for, I feel that it is better, for me, to write in a reflective voice. Maybe it is easier for me that way because then I can characterize myself and have a distance from some memories that are still painful. Or maybe I would utilize both in a way that is honest for me to write and enjoyable and understood by my readers.

Dave Eggers-A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

In the excerpt I read from A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, I was blown away by Eggers' creativity and innovation. I thought that it was such a brilliant idea on how to get real, raw emotions across to the reader. Maybe it's because I am from the A.D.D generation and we can't focus on one thing too long, and so he was able to keep my attention by changing up the formats. Maybe it was because he took the concept of "show don't tell" to a whole new level, when thrusting his audience into the theatre where they had front row tickets to the play. I truly enjoyed this excerpt and will be buying the book. I was not confused for one second as to what was going on, I was enthralled from the beginning and sad when there was nothing left to read.
As to the question is it acceptable to imagine something happening in a memoir form in order to arrive at a personal truth, I would have to say, yes-but...
Yes, but you have to tell your readers upfront. Which Eggers did.
Yes, but there still has to be a method to your madness, which I believe if I read the rest of Eggers' book I would come to the conclusion that there was.
Yes, but that has to be the intention of why you are doing it. If Eggers' was being creative and experimental with his memoir just to be different, it would not be the great piece of work that has become. Yes he was being experimental and imagining things, but it helped him and his book grapple with the larger truth, which let his readers join him on the journey. They were no longer spectators because he let them in from the beginning. I believe that this only led Eggers' readers to an enjoyable enlightenment.
I definitely would, and am trying different forms and experiments with my own memoir. I feel that is the only way that I can deal with my own demons. I want my readers there with me and know that I am not trying to pull one over on them, that I am just like them--only I am writing it out for everyone to see.
I want to read this book and learn craft techniques from Eggers. I know that I would learn a lot.