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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
A great resource on writing personal essays. Very engaging.
3.5
I don’t read many nonfiction narratives, but I enjoy Gornick’s writing about other writings, and this was no exception.
She starts off by describing and quoting from certain pieces by several essayists, including [a:Joan Didion|238|Joan Didion|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1335450818p2/238.jpg] and [a:Harry Crews|13996|Harry Crews|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1279382210p2/13996.jpg], illustrating how a successful piece arises from the writer finding and then writing from a certain persona. She differentiates personal essay from memoir, as the former using their persona to explore a subject other than themself. One of her examples is [a:Natalia Ginzburg|21582|Natalia Ginzburg|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1613135790p2/21582.jpg]’s ‘He and I’ (included in [b:The Little Virtues|71155|The Little Virtues|Natalia Ginzburg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347310459l/71155._SY75_.jpg|68908], which I read recently, and after rereading my review I see that I used the word "persona"). She ends this section on essay with [a:James Baldwin|10427|James Baldwin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1343346341p2/10427.jpg]’s ‘Notes of a Native Son,’ describing why it bridges both forms, that it is his “depth of inquiry [into the self] that guides the personal narrative from essay into memoir.”
The section on memoir includes a brief description of how Rousseau’s “I” is different from today’s “I,” before launching into [a:Edmund Gosse|4668|Edmund Gosse|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1336242030p2/4668.jpg]’s [b:Father and Son|98935|Father and Son|Edmund Gosse|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1171430104l/98935._SY75_.jpg|95379] and ending with [a:W.G. Sebald|6580622|W.G. Sebald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1465928875p2/6580622.jpg]’s [b:The Rings of Saturn|434903|The Rings of Saturn|W.G. Sebald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1486138112l/434903._SY75_.jpg|17952027]. Her lengthy section on Sebald posits emphatically that the work is not a novel, as it’s often described, and is a memoir. (I haven’t read it yet, so can’t say if I agree or not.) Along the way she compares Oscar Wilde and Thomas De Quincey and the unreliableness in their nonfictional works; explains how [a:Marguerite Duras|163|Marguerite Duras|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1559929920p2/163.jpg] found her voice in [b:The Lover|275|The Lover|Marguerite Duras|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1615837617l/275._SY75_.jpg|1009849].
She concludes from her own experience teaching in MFA programs that writing can’t really be taught, but that there is so much to learn through the reading and analyzing of other works, such as she has done here.
I don’t read many nonfiction narratives, but I enjoy Gornick’s writing about other writings, and this was no exception.
She starts off by describing and quoting from certain pieces by several essayists, including [a:Joan Didion|238|Joan Didion|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1335450818p2/238.jpg] and [a:Harry Crews|13996|Harry Crews|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1279382210p2/13996.jpg], illustrating how a successful piece arises from the writer finding and then writing from a certain persona. She differentiates personal essay from memoir, as the former using their persona to explore a subject other than themself. One of her examples is [a:Natalia Ginzburg|21582|Natalia Ginzburg|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1613135790p2/21582.jpg]’s ‘He and I’ (included in [b:The Little Virtues|71155|The Little Virtues|Natalia Ginzburg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347310459l/71155._SY75_.jpg|68908], which I read recently, and after rereading my review I see that I used the word "persona"). She ends this section on essay with [a:James Baldwin|10427|James Baldwin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1343346341p2/10427.jpg]’s ‘Notes of a Native Son,’ describing why it bridges both forms, that it is his “depth of inquiry [into the self] that guides the personal narrative from essay into memoir.”
The section on memoir includes a brief description of how Rousseau’s “I” is different from today’s “I,” before launching into [a:Edmund Gosse|4668|Edmund Gosse|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1336242030p2/4668.jpg]’s [b:Father and Son|98935|Father and Son|Edmund Gosse|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1171430104l/98935._SY75_.jpg|95379] and ending with [a:W.G. Sebald|6580622|W.G. Sebald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1465928875p2/6580622.jpg]’s [b:The Rings of Saturn|434903|The Rings of Saturn|W.G. Sebald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1486138112l/434903._SY75_.jpg|17952027]. Her lengthy section on Sebald posits emphatically that the work is not a novel, as it’s often described, and is a memoir. (I haven’t read it yet, so can’t say if I agree or not.) Along the way she compares Oscar Wilde and Thomas De Quincey and the unreliableness in their nonfictional works; explains how [a:Marguerite Duras|163|Marguerite Duras|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1559929920p2/163.jpg] found her voice in [b:The Lover|275|The Lover|Marguerite Duras|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1615837617l/275._SY75_.jpg|1009849].
She concludes from her own experience teaching in MFA programs that writing can’t really be taught, but that there is so much to learn through the reading and analyzing of other works, such as she has done here.
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
informative
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Must read for a guide on personal narrative. Vivian Gornick never misses
Gornick se pregunta qué es lo que define a la narrativa personal y la respuesta que encuentra es la construcción de una persona, la persona literaria que parte del yo del autor, pero no es exactamente ese autor, puesto que esa persona es construida para contar una historia. De ahí la importancia de la Situación y la Historia, la primera es lo que antecede al texto, el pretexto, mientras que la segunda es cómo es armado lo que se cuenta.
challenging
informative
reflective