What Makes a Memoir?

by Amy Shultz

Time spent in the intentional study of memoirs may help you and your students to better define and understand the following elements of memoirs:

• A memoir is not an autobiography because it is about only a part of the author’s life, not about someone’s life from birth to death.
• A memoir focuses on an event that is in some way important to the author.
• Memoirs may be about people the writer knew personally, such as family or friends.
• Memoirs contain a combination of the memory and the author’s thoughts and feelings about the memory.
• The author of the memoir may not specifically tell you his or her feelings about the event, but may show you through the actions of the characters.
• Memoirs may deal with time differently; some may be “many-moment” pieces and others may be “moment-in-time” pieces.
• Authors may embellish small details or the exact wording of a dialogue in a memoir. Most writers try to describe their memories as accurately as possible.
• Many memoirs are written in the first-person; however, some writers use the third-person to increase the amount of reflection and narration in the piece.

References:

Arnberg, A. (1999).

A study of memoir. Primary Voices K-6. 8, 13-20.

Amy Shultz

Amy Shultz, former fourth grade teacher, works as a facilitator for the Buddy Teaching and Learning Center. She also writes for The Write Connection newsletter and The Writing Site, under the Buddy System Project.

This featured article appeared in Volume 4, Number 2 issue of the Write Connections quarterly newsletter. View other archived newsletters , a topical organization of all newsletters, or sign-up to receive notification when the next newsletters are ready to download.