reading the following article

• "How Truthful are memoirs? The Pulitzer Board should answer that question soon"

 

As you read the article, reflect on the following questions

•  
  • what is a "factual memoir"? How does this compare with the ideas discussed in weeks 4 and 5?
  • what are the standards that Clark argues are needed for nonfiction to be considered "factual"?
  • in your opinion, are Clark's standards realistic, achievable or desirable?
  • what are the counterarguments to Clark's opinion?

 

As you read, remember to also look for examples/quotes that you could integrate into your response

•  
  • what ideas stand out?
  • are there any ideas that are similar to concepts discussed in SLATE?
  • are there any ideas that contradict concepts discussed in SLATE?
  • are there any ideas or examples that remind you of the readings from our course content?

Respond  with   two to four paragraphs. response should be approximately words and include cited examples from both the article and SLATE content. 

 

Slate content Week 4 : 

 

1)  The Role of Truth,Truthiness and Post-Truth in MemoirWhat is Truth anyway? 

It's not easy to establish a definition of truth or to even know if truth is a requirement for memoir writing. 

In fact, establishing the difference between "accuracy," "facts," and "truth" is something that many people are talking about these days. 

In this video, Aciman is discussing "shifting inflections of the truth," and the difference between emotional truth and factual truth.

Watch the video and pay close attention to the panel members' discussion of truth.

How does each person define "truth"?

 

Aciman ultimately suggests that there can be different variations (and understandings) of what constitutes telling the truth. 

 

 Truth and Truthiness??A sliding scale from facts to feelings about facts

 

In 2005, comedian and television show host Stephen Colbert coined the word "truthiness" in an attempt to define what truth is. 

Truthiness is a quality characterizing a "truth" that a person making an argument or assertion claims to know intuitively "from the gut" or because it "feels right" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.  

"Truthiness (noun) the belief in what you feel to be true rather than what the facts will support" (Colbert, 2005)

According to Colbert, he was "thinking of the idea of passion and emotion and certainty over information" when he first used the word truthiness  (as cited by McClennan, 2011).  

Post-TruthTruthiness goes mainstream academic

In 2016, Colbert reinforced his claim as originator of the term. On his comedy show,  he argued that the announcement by the Oxford English Dictionary  that the word "post-truth," which had officially been voted in as word of the year, was nothing more than a paraphrasing of his own truthiness term.  

Check out the video below

 

            

 

 

Interested in learning more about Post-Truth versus Truthiness? 

Check out this article by Marbella International University Centre "Digital Media: Truthiness and Post-Truth"

 

Truth, Truthiness, Post-Truth AND Memoir? Where does Memoir fit? 

 

When we take these ideas and apply them to the role of "truth" in memoirs, things become even more complicated.                

However, as Mary Karr notes, "the best memoirists stress the subjective nature of reportage. Doubt and wonder come to stand as part of the story" (p. 14).  

Karr further stresses that

As we've lost faith in old authorities, our confidence in objective truth has likewise eroded.  Science and scripture and church doctrine were once judged unassailable founts of truth [...]  And while formerly sacred sources of truth like history and statistics have lost ground, the subjective tale has garnered new territory.  That's partly why memoir is in its ascendancy - not because it's not corrupt, but because the best ones openly confess the nature of their corruption (pp. 15-16).

 

 

2) Questioning Truthin a Post Modern World

When you think about the problems of constructing "truth" in the face of false memories, suddenly trying to decide if truth is even possible is no longer so simple. 

One group of philosophers and critics who have questioned how we define truth (among other things) are known as the postmoderns.

While encompassing a broad range of ideas and projects, postmodernism is typically defined by an attitude of skepticism or distrust toward grand narratives, ideologies, the existence of objective reality and absolute truth. 

Instead, postmodernists believe that knowledge and truth are the product of unique systems of social, historical, and political discourse and interpretation, and are therefore contextual (based on the situation) and constructed (created).

 

In other words, "truth" is subjective and open to interpretation.

Let's look at an example:

What colour is the circle?

 

Some of you may say "red," while others may say "crimson" (a deep red) or - if you spend a lot of time with Crayola crayons - "English Vermilion." 

 Perhaps you're colour-blind, and that circle looks brown to you?  

Maybe you are blind, and you can't even see the circle, so your answer is that it has no colour?  

Maybe the colour settings on your screen have you seeing orange?

All of these answers, according to postmodernism, would be correct because for each person, the truth (in this case, the colour) is subjective and based upon context and interpretation. 

Since there can be multiple versions of the truth, the ability to find one cohesive narrative that is accepted in its entirety by all parties involved is a challenge.  Many memoirists (for this reason and for many others) choose to offer readers shades or versions of the truth rather than a singular truth. 

Check out a few other common visual representations of the post-modern debate on truth.

 

3)The Trouble with Remembering

At the core of memoir writing are memories. 

In fact, a common critique of the nonfiction genre centres on our ability to remember the past and the willingness of authors to faithfully tell the whole story. 

Robert Atwan (2018) argues that an understanding of the psychology of memory is fundamental to the writing, evaluating and critiquing of a memoir.

In his article "Of Memoir and Memory," Atwan (2018) explores the ways in which early psychologists Sigmund Freud and Jean Piaget.

A great deal of Freud's work and theory is focused on memory: how we remember, why we remember, what we remember and importantly what (and why) we forget. When working with patients Freud noticed that he "often had to deal with fragmentary recollections, which were all that remained in the patient's memory from the earliest years of his childhood" (as cited by Atwan, 2018).  

Below is an extended  excerpt from Atwan's article that traces 

Why, [Freud] wondered, when so many significant moments are continually forming our consciousness and personality in our youngest years, do we later recall insignificant, even trivial, details?

In his approach to what he termed "infantile amnesia," Freud called such insignificant memories "indifferent," and though he didn't deny that we also carry with us through life some undeniably important memories, he found the frequency of "indifferent" memories to be an enigma of human psychology. [ . . .] In an 1899 essay, Freud termed these "indifferent" memories of early childhood "screen memories." Though they most likely did occur, they come to us possibly distorted and manipulated; their psychological purpose is to displace, or "screen," other, more disagreeable, memories. Freud suggests, too, that the unpleasant memories probably originate from a later, more recent date, and then the mind, as a defense mechanism, projects them back into our past, using, of course, the raw materials of our actual sensory recollections. [. . .]

Freud also points out another way our childhood memories may be inauthentic: "In the majority of significant and in other respects unimpeachable childhood scenes, the subject sees himself in the recollection as a child, with the knowledge that this child is himself; he sees this child, however, as an observer from outside the scene would see him." He then adds that it is "evident that such a picture cannot be an exact repetition of the impression that was originally received. For the subject was then in the middle of the situation and was attending not to himself but to the external world."

As Freud puts it, this alteration of point of view "may be taken as evidence that the original impression has been worked over."

These observations—commonly experienced yet rarely articulated—seem fundamental to our understanding of the way memories, and not just those from early childhood, work.

How often when we retrieve a memory, especially one that is visually detailed and emotionally rich, do we see ourselves at the center of it, the "star" of our internal cinema?

When I consider my own childhood memories, I can't recall a single one in which I'm not seeing myself from an observer's standpoint. The recollection, then, does not accurately reflect what happened: I was not seeing myself when, at the age of five, I mischievously jumped off a seesaw and badly hurt a playmate, who struck her head against a sharp stone when she fell, yet whenever I recall this incident, I see a scene in which I'm being forced by a circle of distressed parents to look at her badly bruised head to see what I had foolishly done. In moving from actual incident to recollected incident, the point of view has shifted from an actor's perspective to a director's, and the whole remembered event resembles a reenactment. 

Freud doesn't make an attempt to explain this mental phenomenon, but it does suggest to me that memory, the driving force of memoir, may be inherently self-centered. (Atwan, 2018, para. 6-9).

Once again, we find ourselves back to our earlier conversations about narrative perspective and Point of View.

 

The Childhood Memories We (Falsely?) Believe

Childhood perhaps poses the most daunting challenge for memoirists.  

If an author chooses to examine his/her childhood as part of a memoir, the tension between truth and accuracy inevitably comes up.

There are some "Flashbulb memories" that are incredibly vivid recollections of emotionally significant moments: historic moments like 9/11 or the beginning of the COVID lockdowns.

But does vivid mean accurate? 

A 2021 psychology study published in the journal Psychological Science  reported that the participants in a controlled study focused on memory and aging could "remember the details about past events with a surprising 94% accuracy, even accounting for age" (Association for Psychological Science, 2021). Ultimately the results "suggests that we forget the majority of details from everyday events, but the details we do recall correspond to the reality of the past" (Diamond; as cited in Association for Psychological Science, 2021, para. 10). 

For most people, memories of childhood are fuzzy. You may have vague impressions or remember particular feelings but not others.  

Some memories are entirely false - a phenomenon called False Memory Syndrome.  

 

 

False Memory Syndrome (FMS) is described as a condition in which a person's identity and relationships are affected by memories that are factually incorrect yet strongly believed.  

But don't worry!

It's not uncommon at all to have some inaccurate or even "Franken-memories" (memories that are stitched together from many memories, some of which may be not be entirely true).  

Any lawyer or judge will tell you that eye-witness testimony is questionable at best because our memories are not reliable, particularly in a long-term scenario where the accuracy of details and facts is crucial.  Our brains simply begin to fill in the blanks with a narrative that helps us make sense of what we think (or want to believe) that we know. 

 

"This suggests that we forget the majority of details from everyday events, but the details we do recall correspond to the reality of the past," Diamond said

Writing about memory and childhood is full of potential problems.

Some authors decide that the memory is more important than the truth or accuracy of actual events; others believe that it is important to re-create the past as accurately as possible, even if that means relying on the memories and information of others to fill in or "correct" childhood memories.

 

 

 

Slate Week 5 content 

 

1) The Trouble with Telling the Truth  

 Storytelling is such an integral part of our daily lives that it's easy to take it for granted. 

At the end of a long day of classes, there's nothing better than gathering up some friends to talk about your day: describe that awkward joke that a professor made during a lecture or describe the strange conversation you overheard in the coffee line-up that you couldn't help hearing. 

But have you ever noticed how hard it is to tell the same story twice exactly the same way? 

According to psychologists, our stories are not set in stone but rather " changes depending on who is asking, your mood, and whether you feel like you are still at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of your most salient story" (Ackerman, 2017).

There are a few tricks that Memoir writers can use, however, to help create a sense of truth and authenticity. 

Creating an Authentic "truthy" Narrative VoiceStream of Consciousness 

 

In 2003, James Frey published his memoir A Million Little Pieces, it was the voice of his narrator that instantly captured the attention of the public.

In a style that is vivid, raw and unfiltered, Frey's work opens in the middle of a plane flight and holds back nothing in revealing his thoughts: 

I wake to the drone of an airplane engine and the feeling of something warm dripping down my chin. I lift my hand to feel my face. My front four teeth are gone, I have a hole in my cheek, my nose is broken and my eyes are swollen nearly shut. I open them and I look around and I'm in the back of a plane and there's no one near me. I look at my clothes and my clothes are covered with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood. I reach for the call button and I find it and I push it and I wait and thirty seconds later an Attendant arrives.

How can I help you?

Where am I going?

You don't know?

No.

You're going to Chicago, Sir.

How did I get here?

A Doctor and two men brought you on.

They say anything?

They talked to the Captain, Sir. We were told to let you sleep.

How long till we land?

About twenty minutes.

Thank you.

Although I never look up, I know she smiles and feels sorry for me. She shouldn't.

 

The narrator gives the audience no warning of what is to come but rather jumps into  the memoir without context and forces the reader to come along on an incredibly vivid (at times too vivid) description of life inside a rehabilitation centre for addiction.

The original summary on the inside cover of the book was both a warning and an invitation to readers:

"Intense, unpredictable, and instantly engaging, A Million Little Pieces is a story of drug, alcohol abuse and rehabilitation as it has never been told before. Recounted in visceral, kinetic prose, and crafted with a forthrightness that rejects piety, cynicism, and self-pity, it brings us face-to-face with a provocative new understanding of the nature of addiction and the meaning of recovery.

 . . . But A Million Little Pieces refuses to fit any mold of drug literature. [. . . It ] is an uncommonly genuine account of a life destroyed and a life reconstructed. It is also the introduction of a bold and talented literary voice."

 

It was this narrative voice that became the focus of Laura Barton's article wherein she notes that finding the right narrative voice was a major goal for Frey in writing the "kind of book . . . that would be unlike anything anybody had ever seen":

The voice he found was not entirely unlike anything anybody had ever seen - there are shades of Hemingway, of Carver, of Kerouac. But it was a voice that wore its influences well, and ironically proved both arresting and addictive.

"We live in a fast world," he says. "Much faster than has ever been before. So to write something that was very relevant to our time I wanted to write something that was very fast, that kept a reader moving. Cos that's what they expect in our world today, with the music and the film and the telephones and the internet. That's just how our brains function."

He says he would rather his writing read like spoken language, "So I talk everything out. I talk my sentences through, and when they sound right I write them."

The larger effect of these techniques is to create a narrative style that we call "Stream of consciousness."

 

Writing the Way You Think, When You Think and  as You Think ItThe Stream of Consciousness Approach to Writing 

 

(Click here for a transcript of the video and highlighted examples)

 

The key motivation behind the Stream of Consciousness writing style is to write the way you think: ideas flow together like an "inner monologue" rather than following a structured development or plan.

The Stream of Consciousness narrative style:

• invites the reader to encounter the narrator's thoughts, feelings, and ideas from a raw and "unfiltered" perspective
• uses an uncensored voice
• creates a sense of closeness and intimacy with the narrator
• attempts to create an honest representation of what the narrator thinks and feels in a specific moment

Common features of the stream-of-consciousness writing style include removing or ignoring many familiar writing structures, such as:

• punctuation
• paragraphing
• grammar

 

These tricks, along with his often vulgar imagery, work to establish his voice as someone who is fighting against being limited by traditional writing forms. 

Truthiness of Stream of Consciousness Writing 

By writing in this way, the ideas flow without being confined by correct grammar or linear (straight-line) thinking. We get all of his thoughts without filtering out the thoughts that may seem awkward or embarrassing.

In some ways, it is similar to the way many of us send text messages -- we type as we think, adding in a few "..." so that the person we are texting can 'see' that we are thinking. It is for this reason that many early readers of the book were amazed by how "genuine" and honest the book seemed.  

 

In the excerpt from Frey at the top of this page, we see the narrator at one of the lowest points in this story, and the stream-of-consciousness narration invites us to identify with the narrator. We can imagine the shame or embarrassment that we would experience in such a moment and then project our feelings onto the narrator. Frey himself, however, does not express feelings of shame or humiliation; rather, readers insert those emotions into this scene because of our own past assumptions about how we would feel.

Don't forget that this is a constructed story! 

Remember that the relationship between the memoirist and the reader is a complicated one: while the story can seem real or "authentic" to the reader, it is still a constructed performance on the part of the memoirist.

Like a rubber duck beside a living duck, a story may look like the real thing and may have the features of the real thing, but it can never be the real thing. 

It is the memoirist who gets to choose what we see in the narrative; therefore, he/she can manipulate our emotions and reactions to the text. 

Because the power to control the narrative is in the hands of the author, readers must always be cautious to read critically when engaging with any form of text.  

 

 

2) There are many ways that creators try to address the idea of truth and authenticity in a memoir. 

 

In this cartoon essay "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Truth in Nonfiction But Were Afraid to Ask: A Bad Advice Cartoon Essay" , Dave Gessner (2015) highlights just some of the questions and issues that arise when we try to understand -- and tell -- the truth. 

 

http://billanddavescocktailhour.com/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-truth-in-nonfiction-but-were-afraid-to-ask-a-bad-advice-cartoon-essay/