Every person strives to leave a mark in this world. For someone it is important to continue the family, to raise children, seeing in them a part of themselves. Other people, especially those who are gifted in literature, prefer to write throughout their lives essays, diary notes, which eventually become the very embodiment of their lives. In this article, you will learn what memoirs are, what varieties exist, and whose memoirs are the most popular.
Etymology of the word
The French word with Latin origin mémoire literally means "memory". There are also such interpretations of the meaning as "think", "remember". Indeed, memoirs are memories embodied in a letter. The process of writing such works requires the ability to think, to analyze one's own actions - to reflect. Only reflection helps a person grow spiritually. For many professional writers, it is important to "inscribe" their own personality in literary works. Artists also used this technique, inscribing themselves, their friends and contemporaries in own paintings. An example is Raphael Santi's painting "The School of Athens".
Literary history
The fashion for such creations did not arise a year or even a century ago. What are memoirs, they knew French well classical writers seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. According to the written memoirs of famous Frenchmen, nowadays they put theatrical performances, they are no less relevant in their problems than several centuries ago. Memoirs were written by courtiers, servants of kings, and even mistresses of rulers.
It is striking that such texts were read more by the inhabitants of the French provinces than by the Parisians, and after the French king weakened print censorship, memoirs were distributed in thousands of copies not only in France, but throughout Europe. Prominent ladies at the court of Marie Antoinette wrote such works, these writers had to endure the most cruel trials of the revolution, imperialism, and emigration. Extremely popular at that time, the notes of court ladies gave rise to a powerful fashion for this genre.
What is a memoir?
Memoirs are a collection of personal memories, a kind of chronicle, in the events of which the writer himself was directly involved. They can describe not only events, memorable days, but also people who met the author throughout his life or a specific period of time. Often these works are in the nature of non-fiction, they also have a claim to being the primary source of truth.
Historians often turn to memoirs, analyze the biographies of cult historical figures trying to see the relationship between the events of public and private life. However, it is worth noting that not all of them can be true, on the contrary, each such work has a share of fiction, with the exception of war memories written by ordinary people. Usually, powerful emotions such as fear, anxiety, pain of loss are transmitted by a person as sincerely as possible.
Russian memoirs
Representatives of the upper classes were also carried away by the French fashion for memoirs back in the pre-Petrine era, but, unlike European writers, Russian writers collected these author's notes in collections about Russian people and Russian life. After the collections, periodical author's magazines began to appear in Russia, which also published memoirs with attribution, and less often anonymous ones. Thanks to these works, foreigners, and even the Russian people themselves, have been able to better understand the extraordinary mentality and culture of our people from century to century.
IN Soviet time memoirs lost their popularity, and if they were published, then in single copies, clandestinely. The censorship did not let through unnecessarily frank, critical and satirical essays. And there were reasons for this, but still many writers managed to save their works and their publication during the thaw could only be compared with the declassification of state-important cases - these works created such a strong public outcry.
War memoirs
Literary creativity in the twentieth century was to some extent marked by the era of military autobiographies. One of the most big name among the pilots of the Second World War - the name of Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin, a pilot of the air force of the Red Army. His memories of the war are reflected in the memoirs "Know yourself in battle. "Stalin's falcons" against the aces of the Luftwaffe. 1941-1945". On account of the author of these works 59 enemy aircraft. The head of the Guards Aviation is also the author of his own military tactics. That is why Pokryshkin's notes are so important - he was part of the local leadership, he knew everything about the special operations courageously carried out by the Red Army.
Books-memoirs telling about the events of the war are endowed with vivid descriptions of air battles, deep reflections on the place of a person in the war, on his behavior and the disclosure of his own essence. In war, according to Pokryshkin, a person learns his own facets of the possible. What is a memoir for a front-line writer? First of all, this is a way to reflect all the worst of what has been experienced on paper and finally let your mind forget the horrific pictures of the war.
memoires), memories- notes of contemporaries, telling about the events in which the author of the memoirs took part or which are known to him from eyewitnesses. Important feature memoirs lies in the installation on the "documentary" nature of the text, claiming the authenticity of the recreated past.Memoirs differ from the chronicles of contemporary events in that the author's face comes to the forefront, with his sympathies and dislikes, with his aspirations and views. Very often belonging to persons who played a prominent role in history, sometimes embracing a significant period of time, for example, the entire life of the author, often connecting important events with little things Everyday life, memoirs can be historical material of paramount importance.
The oldest European memoirs
Classical antiquity knew only two memoir authors, Xenophon and Caesar. France was considered the true homeland of memoirs in the 19th century. The first experiments in this area date back to the 13th century. Villehardouin's naive notes on the Latin empire still stand at the boundary between memoirs and chronicles, while "Histoire de St. Louis“ (about ) is rightfully considered a model of historical memoirs.
France (XVI-XIX centuries)
The number of memoirs especially increased during the era of the revolution (memoirs of Necker, Besanval, Ferrier, Alexandre Lamet, Lafayette, Madame de Stael, Campan, Barbarou, Billo-Varenne, Dumouriez, Madame Roland, Mirabeau, Munier, Barere, Camille Desmoulins). Even executioners, for example, Samson, wrote memoirs at that time.
Many of the memoirs of that era, which appeared with the names of famous figures, are false. This kind of forgery was widely practiced by Sulavi (Soulavie), whose collections are supplanted therefore "Collection des mémoires relatifs à la revolution française"(30 volumes, Paris, 1820-1830) and some other editions.
Even more numerous are memoirs relating to the Napoleonic era. Almost all of Napoleon's generals and many others left notes. Especially great importance have memoirs of Bignon, O'Meara, Constant, Lavalette, Savary, Duchess d'Abrantes, Marmont, Eugene Beauharnais, Madame de Remusat, Talleyrand.
Later memoirs were written by Carnot, Broglie, Chateaubriand, George Sand, Guizot, Marmier, Edmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt.
England
rich in memoirs and English literature, in which, however, they acquire significance only from the era of Queen Elizabeth and even more so from the time of internal wars of the 17th century. For the reign of Charles I special meaning have the memoirs of James Melville and the Scotsman David Craford. The most important of the works of this kind are collected in the edition of Guizot, "Collection des mémoires relatifs à la revolution d'Angleterre"(33 volumes, Paris, 1823 et seq.).
Of later memoirs, the notes of Bolingbroke and Horace Walpole stand out the most. In England, as in France, the literature of memoirs has reached late XIX centuries of sizes barely visible.
Germany
Poland
Russian memoirs
In Russian literature, a number of notes begin with the “History of Prince. Great Moscow. about deeds, even heard from reliable husbands and even seen by our eyes, ”the famous Prince Kurbsky, which has the character of a pamphlet rather than a story, but important as an expression of the opinion of a well-known party.
The Time of Troubles gave rise to a whole series of narrations by contemporaries and eyewitnesses of the Troubles, but with a few exceptions, these works cannot be considered simple-hearted records of what they saw and heard: in almost all legends, either a preconceived point of view appears, or influences from which the simplicity and truthfulness of the author's testimony suffer. Not to mention the works that appeared even before the end of the turmoil (the story of Archpriest Terenty), journalistic features are not alien to the two largest narratives about the turmoil - Ivan Timofeev's Provisional Book and The Tale of the Siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery by Avraamy Palitsyn. In both works, the desire to denounce the vices of Muscovites prevails. society and by them to explain the origin of turmoil; depending on such a task is the lack of a chronological connection, gaps in the actual testimony, an abundance of abstract reasoning and moralizing.
The later works of eyewitnesses of the turmoil, which appeared under Tsars Mikhail and Alexei, differ from the earlier ones in greater objectivity and a more factual depiction of the era (“Words” by Prince I. A. Khvorostinin, especially the story of Prince I. M. Katyrev of Rostovsky, included in Sergei’s chronograph Kubasov), but even in them the presentation is often subject to either conditional rhetorical devices (notes by Prince Semyon Shakhovsky dating back to 1601-1649), or one general point of view (for example, the official one - in the manuscript attributed to Patr. Filaret and depicting events from 1606 to the election of Michael as king).
Therefore, as historical source those few works that deviate from the general literary pattern and do not go beyond a simple unsophisticated transmission of events are of greater importance. Such, for example, is the life of Rev. Dionysius, Archimandrite of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, which in 1648-54. wrote the Trinity cellarer Simon Azaryin, and added his memoirs to the keykeeper of Moscow. Assumption Cathedral Ivan Nasedka (cf. S. F. Platonov, “ Old Russian legends and the story of the Time of Troubles as a historical source”, St. Petersburg, 1888; texts of legends printed. them in the published archeographic. Commission "Historical Library", vol. 13). The writings of Kotoshikhin, Shusherin (the life of Nikon), Avvakum (autobiography), Semyon Denisov bear the character of notes or personal memoirs.
Peter I
Alexander II
Of the numerous memoirs about the era of Alexander II, the notes of N. V. Berg (on Polish conspiracies), Count Valuev, N. S. Golitsyn (on the abolition of corporal punishment, in Russian Antiquity, 1890), A. L. Zisserman are of particular importance (Caucasian memoirs, in the "Russian Archive", 1885), Levshin, Count M. N. Muravyov, P. N. Obninsky, N. K. Ponomarev ("Memoirs of the mediator of the first call", in "Russian Antiquity", 1891, No. 2), N. P. Semyonova, Ya. A. Soloviev, gr. D. N. Tolstoy-Znamensky.
Literary memories
Very numerous literary memoirs XIX century. These are the notes of S. T. Aksakov, P. V. Annenkov, Askochensky, Bodyansky (in the “Collection of the Society of Amateurs Russian literature”, 1891), N. P. Brusilova (in “Istor. Vestn.” 1893, No. 4), Buslaev, book. P. A. Vyazemsky, A. D. Galakhov (in the “Istor. Vestn.” 1891 No. 6 and 1892 No. 1 and 2), Herzen, Panaev, Golovacheva-Panaeva, Grech, I. I. Dmitriev, V. R. Zotov (Istor. Vestn., 1890), M. F. Kamenskaya, Kolyupanova, Makarov,
The meaning of the word MEMOIR in the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language by Ushakov
MEMOIRS
memoirs, units no, m. (fr. mimoires).
1. Literary work in the form of notes about past events, the contemporary or participant of which was the author (lit.).
2. One of the names of the printed works of scientific institutions (obsolete).
Ushakov. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Ushakov. 2012
See also interpretations, synonyms, word meanings and what MEMOIRS are in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:
- MEMOIRS in Sayings of famous people:
- MEMOIRS in Dictionary One sentence, definitions:
- a book about the life that the author would like to live. … - MEMOIRS in Aphorisms and clever thoughts:
a book about the life the author would like to live. … - MEMOIRS in the Dictionary of Literary Terms:
- (from the French memoire - memory, recollection) - a type of epic literature: chronicle and factual narration on behalf of the author, in which ... - MEMOIRS in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
(French memoires - memories) a kind of non-fiction, literary narrative member of the social, literary, artistic life about events and people whose contemporary ... - MEMOIRS in big Soviet encyclopedia, TSB:
(French memoires, from Latin memoria - memory), memories of the past, written by participants or contemporaries of any events. Created based on personal... - MEMOIRS in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
(French M? moires), notes of contemporaries - stories about events in which the author M. took part or which are known to him from eyewitnesses. … - MEMOIRS in the Modern Encyclopedic Dictionary:
(French memoires - memories), a kind of documentary literature, a literary narrative of a participant in public, literary, artistic life about events and people whose contemporary ... - MEMOIRS
[from French memoires memories] 1) a literary work in the form of notes about past events, of which the author was a contemporary or participant; 2) ... - MEMOIRS in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
ov, unit obsolete or iron. memoir, a, m. 1. Notes on past events made by a contemporary or a participant in these events. Write … - MEMOIRS in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
, -ov. Notes, literary memoirs about past events, made by a contemporary or a participant in these events. Military m. II adj. memoir, th, ... - MEMOIRS in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
MEMOIRS (French memoires - memories), a kind of doc. lit-ry, lit. narration of a member of society., lit., art. life about events and people, a contemporary ... - MEMOIRS in the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron:
(French M emoires), notes of contemporaries? narratives about events in which the author M. took part or which are known to him from ... - MEMOIRS in the Full accentuated paradigm according to Zaliznyak:
memua "ry, memua" ditch, memua "ram, memua" ry, memua "rami, ... - MEMOIRS in the Popular Explanatory-Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Language:
-ov, only pl. 1) A literary work that tells in the form of notes on behalf of the author about the events of the past, a participant or witness of which ... - MEMOIRS in the Thesaurus of Russian business vocabulary:
Syn: memories, ... - MEMOIRS in the New Dictionary foreign words:
(fr. memoires memories) 1) autobiographical notes; memories of events and persons of the past, directly or indirectly involved in the life of the author; … - MEMOIRS in dictionary foreign expressions:
[ 1. autobiographical notes; memories of events and persons of the past, directly or indirectly involved in the life of the author; 2. mouth scientific … - MEMOIRS in the Russian Thesaurus:
Syn: memories, ... - MEMOIRS in the Dictionary of synonyms of Abramov:
cm. … - MEMOIRS in the dictionary of Synonyms of the Russian language:
Syn: memories, ... - MEMOIRS in the New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language Efremova:
pl. 1) A literary work that tells in the form of notes on behalf of the author about the events of the past, of which he was a participant or witness. … - MEMOIRS in the Dictionary of the Russian Language Lopatin:
memoirs, ...
Memoirs
Memoirs
(from the French mémoires - memories), a literary narrative of a participant in public, political, literary and artistic life about events, a witness or actor who he was, about the people he came into contact with. Memoirs are a kind of non-fiction and at the same time one of the types of confessional prose (autobiography, confession), adjoin historical prose, essay, biography. Memoirs can contain memories of an ordinary person about his "ordinary" life, conveying the flavor of a certain era, thoughts, feelings, mindsets and expectations of "average" people of a particular time, a particular social, age, psycho-physiological or age status. In this regard, memoirs belong to genres bordering between literature proper and everyday letters and diaries not intended for publication.
The origin of memoirs is associated with the memoirs of Xenophon (c. 445 - c. 355 BC) about Socrates and the Notes on the Gallic War by Julius Caesar (100 or 102-44 BC). IN further literature stand out "The history of my disasters" (1132-36) P. Abelard, « New life» (1292) Dante, "Poetry and truth from my life" (1811-33) I.V. Goethe, "Confession" (1766-69) J.J. Rousseau, "Ten years in exile" (unfinished, published in 1821) J. de Stael; in Russian literature - "The Past and Thoughts" (1855-68) A.I. Herzen, “The captured work” (1921-22) V. N. Figner, “People, years, life” (1961-65) I. G. Ehrenburg, a trilogy by V.P. Kataeva"Holy Well" (1966), "Grass of Oblivion" (1967), "My Diamond Crown" (1978); “On the Banks of the Neva” (1967) and “On the Banks of the Seine” (1983) by I. V. Odoevtseva, “Through the Eyes of a Man of My Generation” (published in 1988) by K. M. Simonova, “A calf butted with an oak tree” (1990) A.I. Solzhenitsyn. A special place among memoirs is occupied by notes and memoirs of prominent statesmen, including the Russian Empress Catherine II, the head of the British government during the 2nd World War, W. Churchill. Stable features of the genre: factographic, eventful, retrospective, immediacy of the author's judgments, picturesque, documentary. An indispensable property of memoirs is their subjectivity in the selection of facts, in their coverage and evaluation; common technique artistic characteristics- portrait. Memoirs are an indispensable source of information about the events of a bygone time, tastes, customs, aesthetic and spiritual values, an important tool for literary, socio-historical and cultural studies. Memoirs in their “pure” form can be identified with works of fiction of a memoir nature (“Pedagogical Poem”, 1933–1936, A.S. Makarenko), often with “encrypted” characters (“My Diamond Crown” by V.P. Kataev). Memoirs-hoaxes are known (a fake "diary" of the maid of honor of the last Russian Empress A. A. Vyrubova). In the 20th and 21st centuries memoirs in the form of memoirs, sketches, fictional dialogues, polemics "in hindsight", diary entries etc. - one of the most relevant genres. In Russia, this is the so-called "camp" literature, which carries not only the truth about the tragic pages of the latest national history, but also a powerful charge of social and political denunciation: “ steep route"(1967-80) E. S. Ginzburg, "The Gulag Archipelago" (1973) A. I. Solzhenitsyn, "Immersion in Darkness" (1987) O. N. Volkova, " Kolyma stories» (1954-73) V. T. Shalamova and others. Memoirs include collective collections of memoirs, united either by the community of authors (profession, age, nationality, biography, ideological, artistic and aesthetic affinity), or by the object of memories (memoirs of contemporaries about A.S. Pushkin, memoirs of participants literary movement imagism).
Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Under the editorship of prof. Gorkina A.P. 2006 .
Memoirs
MEMOIRS- fr. word, notes of contemporaries about memorable events in which they took a direct personal part, or known to them from eyewitnesses. As historical materials and documents, notes are of more or less significant value in terms of the significance of the events described, in terms of accuracy, reliability, detail and picturesqueness of the information reported, and depending on the personal characteristics of the author of the notes. Very often, memoirs shed light on the personality of their compiler. Representing a living combination of everyday real details of living life with material of scientific significance, memoirs have long been one of the favorite sections of reading. historical character, and more than once memoirs were published with the names of prominent persons, which turned out to be fake. Classical antiquity knows Xenophon's wonderful memoirs about Socrates and the author's notes about his Asia Minor campaign (Anabasis) and Julius Caesar's notes about the war in Gaul, in form imitating Xenophon, but drier. In some historical literature different countries we find an unbounded number of memoirs, starting from the Middle Ages, and private notes often shed light on entire epochs that were insufficiently illuminated by other materials. On Russian memoirs, there is an extensive bibliographic work by S. R. Mintslov “Review of notes, diaries,“ memories ”, Novgorod, 1911-12, 5 issues. See Memoirs.
V. Ch. Literary Encyclopedia: Dictionary literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel, 1925
Synonyms:
See what "memoirs" are in other dictionaries:
- (fr., from memoire memory). 1) eyewitness notes about events. 2) notes of learned societies. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. MEMOIRS notes of contemporaries about events and persons who have historical meaning,… … Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Cm … Synonym dictionary
Memoirs- MEMOIRS fr. word, notes of contemporaries about memorable events in which they took a direct personal part, or known to them from eyewitnesses. As historical materials and documents, notes have more or less significant ... ... Dictionary of literary terms
memoirs- ov, pl. memoire m. memory. 1. unit and many others. Essay, article. As for the forwarded .. memoirs about the artillery of Mr. de Remy, I will refer to the fact that I already reported on this the other day. 1731. Tatishchev to Schumacher. // T. Zap. 148. Dissertation about ... ... Historical dictionary gallicisms of the Russian language
memoirs- MEMOIRS, autobiography, memoirs, notes ... Dictionary-thesaurus of synonyms of Russian speech
- (French memoires memories), a kind of documentary literature, a literary narrative of a participant in public, literary, artistic life about events and people whose contemporary he was ... Modern Encyclopedia
- (French memoires memories) a kind of documentary literature, a literary narrative of a participant in public, literary, artistic life about events and people whose contemporary he was. Wed autobiography ... Big encyclopedic Dictionary
- (write, read) memories. Wed I recently read this in the memoirs of a poet. Boborykin. Corpse. 2. Wed. Mémoire (memoria) memory, notes, commemorative record. Wed Memini, I remember... Michelson's Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)
MEMOIRS, memoirs, units no, husband. (French memoires). 1. A literary work in the form of notes about past events, of which the author was a contemporary or participant (lit.). 2. One of the names of the printed works of scientific institutions (obsolete). Explanatory ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov
Do you want to know, how to write a memoir about your life? How to write a memoir without looking like a fool? How do you remember events in your life? How to put it all in the right order?
“To restore oneself through memories means to resurrect by uniting the present self with the past self.”
Lev Karsavin.
If you have already decided to write your own memoirs, but do not know where to start, then this article is just for you. Well, if you still don’t know why write memoirs, then read on.
Where to start writing memoirs
First, it should be understood that memoirs- this is not an autobiography, in which the narrative begins from birth and consistently passes through the entire "calendar of life". In the memoirs, this sequence is not an axiom, although some order is needed. You can just take some significant piece of your life and build your memoirs on it.
Many turn to their childhood as the most mysterious and interesting topic for memoirs. The difficulty is that few people remember their own childhood in such detail that it would be possible to write at least a couple of pages of text about it. But that's just how it seems.
In fact, you just haven’t remembered your childhood for a long time. It is worth starting, how you can be captured by such a powerful wave of memories that it is enough for more than one notebook. Help here family albums with photographs, old letters, diaries, music and video recordings and, of course, the stories of your relatives.
And also the Internet! Yes Yes. You can find here a lot of useful reminders of the past. Now many forums and social networks have sections and groups where visitors post a lot of pictures and nostalgic memories from the Soviet past. Here are children's toys of that time, and industrial goods, and food, and a lot of things like that.
Looking through these materials, you may suddenly remember that such a toy was in your childhood, and the sight of kefir bottles with a foil cap or chewing gum "Just you wait" for 15 kopecks can push you to long-forgotten memories that you just like and would never remember.
Secondly, it is very useful as an example to read already published memoirs. Find "Memory, Speak" by Vladimir Nabokov, or "In Search of Lost Time" by Marcel Proust, or "My early years» Winston Churchill. You should not be embarrassed that they were great writers, and you had only C's or even worse in writing at school. It doesn't have to be one of the greats. But they have a lot to learn. Yes, just to be inspired.
Thirdly, you should find some key, very significant moment in your past, from which you can go on a journey through the waves of memory. Start remembering it in every possible detail and write it down in a draft.
Perhaps, at the same time, you will begin to remember earlier events, which are also very significant for you. Write them down too. You can draw a mind map based on this key event. This is very good help, which can serve as a kind of plan for writing the subsequent detailed text.
There is a start, what's next?
Let's say you find the right key moment in your life and start writing down your memories of it, even if it's rather chaotic so far. How to make it all look more or less like a book, and not like a collection of incoherent passages that no one but you will be interested in reading.
At any fiction there must be a plot. It is the plot that draws the reader in and arouses his interest in further reading. No plot, no interest.
In the case of memoirs, everything is exactly the same. You need to link all your memories into some kind of connected plot. The difficulty is that at the very beginning of compiling records, this plot is far from always visible even to you. You are simply writing down your memories, not knowing in advance what else will pop up in your memory.
So line up storyline in memoirs it makes sense from about the middle of the story or even at the very end, when you yourself come to certain conclusions and results. You may even want to rewrite everything again, shuffling the memories and arranging them in a completely different order.
Of course, in your narrative there should be some bright, anchor events, conflicts that you either managed to resolve, or they left a noticeable imprint in your life. This piques the interest of the reader. If everything is written down smoothly, without any bursts of emotional waves, then reading it will be unbearably boring even for you.
Therefore, do not spare emotions and do not hesitate to write them out in all colors. After all, you are writing the book of your life. So let it be bright!
"Memories are magical garments that don't wear out from use."
Robert Stephenson.
As in any successful business, there must be a certain method in writing a memoir. If you, on a wave of enthusiasm, “remembered” a cart and a small cart in one evening, quickly wrote it all down, and then abandoned it for a month or two, then you are guaranteed to have to start all over again. It will be very difficult to start from where you left off last time.
Therefore, it is better to write at least a little, but every day, or in a day or two, but not to give up this activity for a long time.
Many may be discouraged from the idea of creating a memoir by the fact that you need to allocate time for remembering and subsequent recording, and there is not enough of it anyway. Take an example from famous writer Julia Cameron. She often writes in fits and starts when she has a free minute or two in everyday life.
You can take care of your daily affairs and along the way, remember something from your past, making short notes in a notebook, on a smartphone or laptop, or even just on paper napkins or on any piece of paper. For this, it is not necessary to allocate any special time, lock himself in a strict office with an oak table and a table lamp a la "Serious Writer".
What can be written in memoirs
Truth! Memoirs are not fiction. First of all, it is a true description of the events that took place in the past, and the author's thoughts about these very events, his attitude towards them, the emotions, thoughts and conclusions associated with them.
Moreover, the word "truth" means that you will not describe yourself only with positive side, but also tell without concealment and about some negative aspects. Life consists not only of successes, but also of failures too. When you talk about them, you inspire confidence in the reader.
Do not use passive constructions and clericalism in the text. It's just mega-boring! Passive constructions are an official style that smacks of bureaucracy.
Examples of passive constructions: “tasks were performed”, “problems were solved”, “work was done”, etc. Instead, use active constructions: “I completed the task”, “we solved the problem”, “I did this job”.
Chancellery- words and turns of speech that also came from the official style of business papers. These are all kinds: is, takes place, was in a state, which, this, named, should, according to, in case, in connection with, due to the fact that, despite the fact that, due to the fact that, namely, as well as, etc.
Use as little as possible compound words, definition words, very long words or very rare words (obsolete). Perhaps you consider this to be a decoration of the text, but the reader will not understand this, or will think that you are just showing off.
Describe events in a particular environment, not uncertainties suspended in the air. If this event took place in a cafe, give a brief but complete description of the decor of this coffee and its patrons. This will immerse the reader in a specific environment, will let you feel the atmosphere of space.
Use sentimental descriptions, not just: oak table, red lamp, fat waiter. Instead write this: the rough surface of an oak tabletop, the soft and mysterious light of an old red lamp, a fat and clumsy waiter, “fragrant” with sour soup, in a filthy crumpled apron.
The reader must experience all this for himself. Therefore, use more words that describe specific sensations - visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and gustatory.
In addition, the use of metaphors, quotations, dialogues and other literary embellishments is quite acceptable and even welcomed in memoirs, as long as they are appropriate and fit into the overall outline of the narrative. They not only diversify your text, but also add zest, which readers always like.
How to finish a memoir
Any good (read - interesting) story has a beginning and an end. Your memoirs too. They cannot be left halfway unsaid. You may not be able to do some vital important findings but the story must be brought to its logical end. If the story is still going on, then your memoirs are not finished yet and will be supplemented with new materials over time.
When you've finished writing, re-read everything from beginning to end and "drain" along the way. This means that it is necessary to discard from the text everything superfluous, not essential, or it is painted too ornately and in detail. If these floridities and details do not reveal the essence of the matter, then they are clearly useless.
Checking the text for "water" is very easy: you read the sentence, you see a dubious word in it, delete it and check if the meaning and essence of the sentence is lost. If not, then the word was really superfluous.
In the same way, you check a paragraph of text. If any sentence in it is superfluous, then down with it! And you do the same with the paragraphs themselves, ruthlessly removing them from the text.
After all these heroic efforts, you have to take an equally heroic step - to read your memoirs to your closest friends and relatives whom you trust. Thus, you are pursuing two tasks:
1. Check how interesting and informative your story is in general (according to reviews);
2. Check how complete the information is presented.
The second point may lead you to want to supplement your memoirs with information provided by your first readers. Perhaps you yourself could not remember something, but it turned out to be significant. Perhaps you made a mistake in your memories, and your friends can help you correct it.
Anyway, Feedback needed. So feel free to ask people to read your texts and give that feedback.
Dare!
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Igor Levchenko. Writer, blogger, photographer. Psychologist by education, storyteller by vocation. life credo- everything happens at the right time!
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Tatiana
19.10.2016
I've been thinking about writing my own memoirs for a long time. Thanks for helpful tips!)
Maria Dmitrieva
18.12.2016
Curious! I always believed that memoirs are something purely literary, not for ordinary people. I don't know if I would like to write my memoirs. Maybe in the future.
Igor Levchenko
19.12.2016
Maria, everyone comes to this in their own time :)
Svetik
26.01.2017
I haven’t thought about memoirs yet, but I’ve been keeping a diary since I was 10 years old. Already a whole box has accumulated)) Maybe in the future they will come in handy for me just for memoirs. Thank you for this article!
Igor Levchenko
26.01.2017
The diary in this case is just a great helper! I even envy you a little :) I started keeping my records only in adulthood.
Vyacheslav
27.01.2017
Igor, have you already written your memoirs yourself? :)
Igor Levchenko
07.03.2017
Vyacheslav, I write little by little :)) This process is long and very interesting. The more you remember, the more new memories come that you completely forgot about. Something needs to be corrected and added. So everything is in progress.
Yuri
07.03.2017
More than 20 years ago, I began to think ... how to state my life correctly and accurately, without moralizing ... from the baby house to graduation ... I started writing several times .., quit, started again, the desire remained, but there was no “enthusiasm” anymore. In the article, so clear everything is painted .. Thank you!
Igor Levchenko
07.03.2017
Please, Yuri! Enthusiasm with age is replaced by pragmatism. To start doing something again, you just have to start, without any enthusiasm and any expectations. Interest will be shown in the process. That's what I do all the time myself. Sometimes there is absolutely no desire to write, but the habit has already developed, so I just sit down and write. And gradually, if not enthusiasm, then simply interest appears to work further. That's how we live:)
Yuri
08.03.2017
Thank you. Good luck!
Igor Levchenko
11.03.2017
Thanks, Yuri! And you too! :) Any questions - I'll be happy to help
Natasha
10.05.2017
In the synopsis of an autobiographical novel (for the publisher), is the description in the third person? Thank you.
Igor Levchenko
10.05.2017
Natasha, that's right, usually in the synopsis they write in the third person.
Alexander
13.10.2017
many times I thought about writing my memoirs, but I don’t feel like writing, I’ve been writing all my life, at work, letters, analytical notes, theses, etc. I would like to dictate. M.b. whoever will help. and I want to call it this: Predictions of fate.
Igor Levchenko
13.10.2017
Alexander, everything is in your hands! :) If you write a lot yourself, then you are unlikely to like how your life will be described by another person. You will constantly see shortcomings either in style or in the presentation of the material. In addition, memories are a tricky thing, something new pops up all the time in the course of recording.
Valentine
10.12.2017
Wrote a book. I reread it. It became sad and embarrassing. Deleted. Now relatives and friends are increasingly reminding that it is time to return to this matter. I don't want to write under my own name. How to keep incognito? I don't want to show my memoirs to my family. Why would they need to know the painful details of my life? How do people find a publisher in general?
