In which I try to separate the personal essay from the memoir and fail miserably. Yay!

There’s a fine line between personal essays and memoirs. Actually, it gets a little confusing after awhile that you might begin to intermix the terms ‘personal essay’ and ‘memoir’ when talking about each.

According to Essortment, a personal essay is “essentially non-fiction stories, ones that are neatly arranged like a road map that take the reader from point A to point B to point C.” We can see this construction in Lott’s essay “Brothers.” In the segmented essay, Lott follows a chronological order of the telling of his life – first beginning with the far past and ending with the present. He doesn’t step out of that pattern.

Now memoirs. According to Wikipedia:

Memoirs may appear less structured and less encompassing than formal autobiographical works as they are usually about part of a life, often a public part, rather than the chronological telling of a life from childhood to adulthood/old age.

So that pretty much sums up memoir, I suppose. Personal essays: chronological order. Memoirs: Not so much with the chronological order.

But then I read the personal essay, “The Best Cake Made Both of Us Sad” by Chris Offutt – he breaks the pattern a bit. He begins in the present, then skips to the recent, recent past to the recent past and stays in the recent past. But it’s categorized as a personal essay, which then confused me.

I’m familiar with the essays (or memoirs) of David Sedaris (author of the funny Me Talk Pretty One Day , Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim and other fabulous stories). He tells stories about pieces of his life and usually, they follow a chronological order. The first story in Me Talk Pretty One Day, is called “Go Carolina”. It’s about the author’s problems with 1) Not knowing sport teams and 2) His speech issues – especially with the letter ‘s’. The thing that threw me was that he did tell his story in chronological order. And with the definition provided by Wikipedia, it's a piece of his life. So, is it a personal memoir essay?

I read the first page of ex-governor McGreevey’s memoir The Confession while shopping at BJ’s. OK, I didn’t read the entire first page, but at least one paragraph. He begins his saga a day (or year, I forget) before his political career went, well, way downhill. He and his wife are tucking in their baby girl and they watch her sleep. By watching his interview on Oprah I knew by reading that one paragraph that he was going to skip the A-B-C pattern that is seen in personal essays by going back into his past describing his life growing up as a boy who strived to achieve at things he wanted to be good at to the guy who picked up men in restroom pitstops.

Yes, there is a fine line between personal essays and memoirs. Unfortunately, I still don’t know that line. Well, I think I see a faint line - but it's confusing me. :(

And now, something a little extra: My favorite personal essay (I think it's a personal essay) - Six to Eight Black Men by David Sedaris. A story about a foreign land, with its foreign Jolly Ol' Saint Nick who hangs with six to eight black men (no one ever got a correct head count all those years) who just might kick you if you’re naughty or stuff you in a sack - whichever comes first.

Brainstorming to a Place, Far, Far Away

I was thinking about focusing my essay upon aspects of my life. Like the (multiple) times my brother tried to sell me to our next door neighbor for money for a new G.I. Joe doll. Of course I don't remember all the fine and fabulous details except for those times my brother told me to probably scare me into not telling my parents that he was the one that unwound all the toliet tissue from the bathroom.

Or that one time I used to believe in the toothfairy and my dream was all shattered when I caught my Mom with the crisp dollar bill in one hand and my tooth in the other.

The essay would be about family relationships with a focus upon dysfunction.

First Post

Very first post. Just testing the waters.