Product Description

First published in 1987, Inventing the Truth quickly grew into the best-selling compendium of the Writer's Craft series and continues to be a lasting hit. In this revised and expanded edition with a new introduction by its editor, William Zinsser, the voices of original contributors - Russell Baker, Annie Dillard, Alfred Kazin, and Toni Morrison - join with new pieces by Jill Ker Conway, Eileen Simpson, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., among others. The result is a provocative dialogue that vividly examines the expanding and innovative approaches to a literary form practiced by some of our most prestigious authors. With refreshing candor, contributors both old and new address the pleasures and challenges of accurately rendering their personal histories. Toni Morrison underscores the manner in which her heritage informs her work, while Jill Ker Conway describes the essential act of leaving the past behind. On a comic note, Russell Baker recalls his failure to include his mother and himself i

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1172168 in Books
• Published on: 1995-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 202 pages

Amazon.com Review
Every time Inventing the Truth appears in a new edition, editor William Zinsser can't help but add to it. The first edition (1987) evolved from a series of New York Public Library talks, for which the mandate was not to lecture about the genre of the memoir but to explain how a specific memoir came to be written. In the book's 1995 edition, Russell Baker, Annie Dillard, Alfred Kazin, and Toni Morrison were joined by Jill Ker Conway, Eileen Simpson, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Ian Frazier. This time around, Zinsser has added a rich and charming reminiscence by Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes).

The authors do stick to their assignment: Russell Baker credits his huge family with helping him "learn a lot about humanity from close-up observation"; Jill Ker Conway talks about her desire to write a female memoir that was not a romantic happily-ever-after; and Henry Louis Gates Jr. discusses "want[ing] to write a book that imitated the specialness of black culture when no white people are around." But there is also plenty of advice for writers here, and some general thoughts about the genre. Conway addresses the difficulty of "going back as a historian" and trying to understand "all the things you took as a given when you were a child." Gates warns us to "be prepared for the revelation of things you don't even dream are going to come up." And Annie Dillard contemplates the strangeness of spending "more time writing about [a scene or an event] than you did living it." --Jane Steinberg

From Publishers Weekly
Russell Baker, in writing his memoirs, left out a principal characterhis motherin the first draft. After much torment, he realized that "although nobody's life makes any sense . . . you might as well make it into a story." The six essays in this symposium explore the craft of memoir, defined here as a portion of a life, narrower in scope than autobiography. Annie Dillard argues that the best memoirs forge their own forms. Toni Morrison describes how slave narratives have influenced her work. New York's streets gave Alfred Kazin "physical images, straight from the belly," which he shaped into his self-portrait, A Walker in the City. Lewis Thomas weaves reflections on human adaptability, memory and evolution. In his introductory essay, Zinsser discusses why a good memoir is also a work of history, capturing a distinctive moment in the life of a society.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Five writers discuss the art of memoir in talks given at the New York Public Library. Each focuses on a corner of life, but one revealing both the person and the world that shaped him or her. Annie Dillard talks of her Pittsburgh childhood and her moment of waking to the world outside. Russell Baker explains why his first draft of Growing Up was so bad that he had to start over again. Alfred Kazin finds that writing about his Brooklyn childhood connected him with the great tradition of Emerson and Whitman. Toni Morrison tells why her fiction uses not only family history but the slave narratives of her people. Lewis Thomas traces the evolution of his singular self from primeval bacteria to contemporary scientist whose drive to be useful is the most fundamental of all biological necessities. A delightful and instructive book. Milton Meltzer, New York
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Must-Read
This is a must-read for anyone embarking on a memoirs project because it helps clarifying the question of WHOSE truths can and should be expressed in a memoirs. As the president of Modern Memoirs, a private publishing firm that specializes in personal memoirs and family histories, I am constantly recommending it to clients and their families. It's especially useful when one member of the family wants THEIR version of the truth to supercede the memoirist's own version. Good companion to Tristine Rainer's excellent The New Autobiography, and Richard Stone's The Sacred Art of Storytelling.

If you're thinking about writing memoir
In INVENTING THE TRUTH, several memoirists offer their viewpoints on writing about one's life. Each author talks about the process of discovering different ways to tell their own stories and then subjecting their stories to a critical analysis, understanding that it might be told differently. They consider how the author knows too much and must distill this glut of information into a dramatic, readable narrative that will hold a reader. That means using many of the techniques of fiction, but also being true to the events. The examples prompted me to buy several of the memoirs discussed. This book would be very helpful for anyone considering writing a memoir and it's a terrific cross-section of the genre for anyone wanting to read some of the best. ~Joan Mazza, author of DREAM BACK YOUR LIFE, DREAMING YOUR REAL SELF, and 3 books in The Guided Journal Series with Writer's Digest.

On Writing a Memoir
According to Webster, the definition of memoir is "a biographical sketch, usually one written by someone who knows the subject well." It is from the Latin word memoria, meaning memory. But in Inventing the Truth, Annie Dillard says, "Don't hope in a memoir to preserve your memories. If you prize your memories as they are by all means avoid--eschew--writing a memoir" (70). Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir is a sort of instructional anthology composed of six chapters written by six authors. The purpose of this book, edited and introduced by William Zinsser, is to give writers different perspectives on how to write a memoir. If you are writing a memoir, or even just thinking about writing one, this book will be helpful to you. It contains examples of good memoir writing, advice on what to put in and what to leave out, and an overview of the process of writing a memoir. The advice given by William Zinsser and the other five contributors to Inventing the Truth pertains mostly to organizing memories. Annie Dillard's chapter entitled "To Fashion a Text" is very focused on memoir writing, and would not prove useful to the average Joe. However, Lewis Thomas' chapter called "A Long Line of Cells" would be interesting for anyone to read. Unless you are thinking about writing a memoir, this book probably will not entirely interest you.