Research Catalog

Inventing the truth : the art and craft of memoir / Russell Baker, Jill Ker Conway, Annie Dillard, Ian Frazier, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alfred Kazin, Frank McCourt, Toni Morrison, Eileen Simpson; edited with a introduction by William Zinsser.

Title: Inventing the truth : the art and craft of memoir / Russell Baker, Jill Ker Conway, Annie Dillard, Ian Frazier, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alfred Kazin, Frank McCourt, Toni Morrison, Eileen Simpson; edited with a introduction by William Zinsser.
Publication: Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

Item details
Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Not available - Please for assistance.	Text	Request in advance	CT25 .I58 1998	Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Description

227 pages; 21 cm

Summary

"Nine authors discuss the problems and pleasures of reinventing the past. Anyone undertaking the project of writing a memoir knows that the events, memories, and emotions of the past often resist the orderly structure of a book. Inventing the Truth offers wisdom from nine notable memoirists about their process (Ian Frazier searched through generations of family papers to understand his parents' lives), the hurdles they faced (Annie Dillard tackles the central dilemma of memoir: what to put in and what to leave out), and the unexpected joys of bringing their pasts to the page. Featured authors include Russell Baker on Growing Up; Jill Ker Conway on The Road from Coorain; Annie Dillard on An American Childhood; Ian Frazier on Family; Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Colored People; Alfred Kazin on A Walker in the City; Frank McCourt on Angela's Ashes; Toni Morrison on Beloved; and Eileen Simpson on Poets in Their Youth."--

Subject

Genre/Form

Autobiography.
Autobiography
Biography
Biographies
Autobiographies
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Autobiographies.
Biographies.

Note

"A Mariner book."

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-221).

Processing Action (note)

committed to retain

Contents

Introduction / William Zinsser -- Life with mother / Russell Baker -- Points of departure / Jill Ker Conway -- Learning to chill out / Frank McCourt -- Poets in my youth / Eileen Simpson -- Lifting the veil / Henry Louis Gates, Jr. -- The past breaks out / Alfred Kazin -- To fashion a text / Annie Dillard -- Looking for my family / Ian Frazier -- The site of memory / Toni Morrison.

ISBN

0395901502 (paperback)
9780395901502 (paperback)

LCCN

98007926

OCLC

39093522
SCSB-11753599

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library