Amemoir (/ˈmɛm.wɑːr/;[1] from French mémoire[me.mwaʁ], from Latin memoria'memory, remembrance') is anynonfictionnarrative writing based on the author's personal memories.[2][3] The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory ofbiography orautobiography since the late 20th century, the genre is differentiated in form, presenting a narrowed focus, usually a particular time phase in someone's life or career. A biography or autobiography tells the story "of a life", while a memoir often tells the story of a particular career, event, or time, such astouchstone moments and turning points in the author's life. The author of a memoir may be referred to as amemoirist or amemorialist.
Memoirs have been written since ancient times, as shown byJulius Caesar'sCommentarii de Bello Gallico, also known asCommentaries on the Gallic Wars. In the work, Caesar describes the battles that took place during the nine years he spent fighting local armies in theGallic Wars. His second memoir,Commentarii de Bello Civili (Commentaries on the Civil War) is an account of the events that took place between 49 and 48 BC inthe civil war againstGnaeus Pompeius Magnus and theRoman Senate. The notedLibanius, a teacher of rhetoric who lived between an estimated 314 and 394 AD, framed his life memoir as one of his literaryorations, which were written to be read aloud in the privacy of his study. This kind of memoir refers to the idea inancient Greece andRome that memoirs were like "memos": pieces of unfinished and unpublished writing which a writer might use as a memory aid to make a more finished document later on.
TheSarashina Nikki, written in theHeian period, is an example of an early Japanese memoir. A genre of book writing,Nikki Bungaku, emerged during this time. Themes of court life, introspection, and emotional expressiveness were frequently explored in Japanese memoirs;Sarashina Nikki is among the most well-known examples.[4]
An excerpt from the manuscript "Memoires onNapoleon's campaigns, experienced as a soldier of the second regiment", written byJoseph Abbeel, 1805–1815.[7]
Over the latter half of the 18th through the mid-20th century, memoirists generally included individuals notable within their chosen profession. These authors wrote as a way to record and publish their own account of their public exploits. Authors included politicians or people in court society and were later joined by military leaders and business people. An exception to these models isHenry David Thoreau's 1854 memoirWalden, which presents his experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built nearWalden Pond. Thoreau's memoir, which emphasized the individual's interaction with nature and independence, became a key work of American literature, especially withinTranscendentalism.[8]
According to American journalistCarlos Lozada, 21st century political memoirs fall into recognizable categories:
There is the sanitized precampaign memoir, gauzy life stories mixed with vague policy projects and odes to American goodness. There is the postcampaign memoir, usually by the losers, assessing the strategy and sifting through the wreckage. There are memoirs by up and comers who dream of joining the arena and by aging politicos rewriting their careers once more before the obits start to land. There are memoirs by former staff members who realize that proximity to power gives them a good story and memoirs by journalists who chronicle power so closely that they imagine themselves its protagonists.[9]
Canadian scholar George Edgerton argues: "The late British historianGeorge Peabody Gooch spoke of the mixture of vanity and pathos displayed in this quest to surmount the bounds of mortality. It is from this tradition that the modern political memoir has derived, in all its diverse forms."[10] Cambridge University professorAndrew Gamble states that the rarest but potentially most valuable kind of memoir is the political diary.[11]
In the early 1990s, memoirs written by ordinary people experienced a sudden upsurge, as an increasing number of people realized that theirancestors' and their own stories were about to disappear. At the same time,psychology and other research began to show that familiarity withgenealogy helps people find their place in the world and that life review helps people come to terms with their own past.[18] The popularity of the memoir field was also helped by the emergence of social media platforms, as people started writing down and sharing their personal stories to large audiences.
With the advent of inexpensivedigital book production in the first decade of the 21st century,[19] thegenre exploded. Memoirs written as a way to pass down a personal legacy, rather than as a literary work of art or historical document, are emerging as a personal and family responsibility.[20]
TheAssociation of Personal Historians was a trade association for professionals who assisted individuals, families, and organizations in documenting their life stories.[21] It dissolved in 2017.
With the expressed interest of preserving history through the eyes of those who lived it, some organizations work with potential memoirists to bring their work to fruition. TheVeterans History Project, for example, compiles the memoirs of those who have served in a branch of theUnited States Armed Forces – especially those who have seen active combat.[22]
Memoirs are usually understood to be factual accounts of people's lives, typically from their early years, and are derived from the French termmémoire, meaning "reminiscence" or "memory."[23] However, some works, which may be called free memoirs, are less strictly bound to remembered facts: "One type of life story is thefree memoir, a form of nonfiction that, in presenting the past, deviates from factual and literal accuracy. This play of truth distinguishes the free memoir from the memoir per se, the word 'free' meaning what it does infree translation, that is, 'not literal or exact.'”[24]
Drakman, Annelie. "The ‘seductive scientist’: the emergence of a new persona centred on virility and joy in twentieth-century scientific memoirs."Notes and Records (2021).online
Egerton, George, ed.Political Memoir: Essays on the Politics of Memory (Frank Cass, 1994) Twenty essays by scholars on the memoirs of major political leaders in the 20th century.online
Egerton, George. “Politics and Autobiography: Political Memoir as Polygenre.”Biography, vol. 15, no. 3, 1992, pp. 221–42.online
Egerton, George W. “The Lloyd George ‘War Memoirs’: A Study in the Politics of Memory.”Journal of Modern History 60#1, 1988, pp. 55–94.online
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