Photoessay #1495 - Memoirist reunion

First, heard from Matt this morning. He lives in Hampton VA right in the middle of the hurricane's path. He writes that they experienced no damage or flooding, didn't even lose their power. Luckkkkyy! All we have to have here is some November windstorm and we lose our power.

Last night, I attended a reunion dinner for our certificate class from last year. Seven out of sixteen attended at Joyce's beautiful home on a golf course on a ridge on the way to the Cascade Mountains.

Wonderful time and though-provoking conversation generally following the major themes of the class. Including

a. The nature of what we remember and the validity of our memories. One provocative book we read was "Reality Hunger" by David Shields. Hard to explain exactly what this book (by design) (perhaps manifesto) but, at the end, his point was that there really is no distinction between fiction and non-fiction. It's all perceptions, memories, recollections which are colored by our own humanity and the passage of time. Has influenced me a lot. Not everybody in the class agreed. One member said that she did not accept that premise. She's taken the summer off from her job and has written a major part of a book about her family's experience spending a year in Latin America. I understand that my memories may differ from my children's, she says, but I'm certainly not going to make up anything that didn't happen.

b. The distinction between the narrator and the author. In our class, we were taught that that the writer in a first person narrative is presenting the view of the narrator not necessarily the author. They may be the same or different or slightly so. Another member talked about a book which she hopes to write about an inappropriate relationship she had with a mental health therapist. She wonders whether she (or any of us memoirists) really want to reveal such personal matters. How close does the story have to be to the narrator's experience? You could write a book about ethical boundary issues in therapy inspired by your experience but you don't have to make your personal experience the center of the book.

I can see that in my own writing. I never want to get too close to the narrator's personal feelings.

All interesting, very interesting. Even the morning after. Group picture taken in front of the hostess' living room.