29 December 2015

Memoir








As 2015 comes to a close I am reflecting on many of the enriching experiences I have had this year. So many of these take the forms of art, including literature -a daily pleasure. It turns out I have read a number of memoirs by writers and artist in this recent cycle of the seasons. What a delightful way to learn not only about others' lives, but life itself.

Among the books I have read is Virginia Woolf's A Writer's Diary (edited by Leonard Woolf), a journal she kept about her creative process -and the many things that encumbered it- over 24 years. Also an author's memoir, Jeanette Winterson's Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? That was such an illuminating look into the life of a contemporary writer I admire and feel a special affinity with. Cheryl Strayed's Wild was an adventure of another sort. I also received the gift of photographer Sally Mann's memoir, Hold Still. This book kept me up late with remarkable drama and suspense, as well as the amusing and stirring photos that illustrate it.


In some ways my favorite was Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings. The book was initially conceived as a series of three lectures Welty was invited to deliver at Harvard University in 1983. While I enjoyed all that Welty shared of her early life experience, and how that shaped her as an artist, I also appreciated the very structure of the book: "Listening", "Learning to See", "Finding a Voice". In it's three chapters -full of anecdotes and affectionate remembrance- she describes "coming to her senses" in personal and creative development.

I'm prompted to consider how I have learned to listen, learned to see, learned to speak in the various languages available to me. And further inspired to seek influences that will help me to listen, see and speak more clearly, reverently, eloquently.

5 comments:

  1. As usual, you've got me thinking, dear Stephanie! I've always thought of listening as primal--that being receptive precedes the ability to be perceptive, and that both feed into the expressive. But I'm not sure. I have seen many instances of what is apparently a capacity for expressiveness that comes into being through a more spontaneous process, and many times the most powerful art seems to be this type. They're very different processes, and maybe because of this, there's no conflict between them, no duality at all really.

    Thank you for your many examples of clarity, reverence, and eloquence in 2015 Stephanie. I so look forward to what you produce in the coming year.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your remarks, Joel. I suspect that even many of our spontaneous actions are informed by past experience and what we have observed in similar circumstances. This seems obvious in early development, but I believe one's millieu and exposure to different languages and sensibilities continues to shape what and how we express ourselves.
      Perhaps less conflict between expressive and receptive modes than confluence?
      May 2016 be creatively productive for you too!

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  2. As usual, you've got me thinking, dear Stephanie! I've always thought of listening as primal--that being receptive precedes the ability to be perceptive, and that both feed into the expressive. But I'm not sure. I have seen many instances of what is apparently a capacity for expressiveness that comes into being through a more spontaneous process, and many times the most powerful art seems to be this type. They're very different processes, and maybe because of this, there's no conflict between them, no duality at all really.

    Thank you for your many examples of clarity, reverence, and eloquence in 2015 Stephanie. I so look forward to what you produce in the coming year.

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  3. thank you for sharing these books and your reflections on them. I have read them all but some many years ago. One on your recommendation! So interesting to read of a creative person's life and work. I could wish perhaps the Leonard hadnt cherry picked Virginia's entries, as I believe he did. I read Sally Mann's book this year too and found it engrossing. She has an active and curious mind. I loved the section on her friendship with and close proximity to Cy Twombly. Wild was also an amazing read for me this year. I could never manage such a walk. I noticed in the bookstore there is now a little book of her sayings of wisdom. Gave me a chuckle. Here's to many more enriching reads in 2016.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for taking time to read and respond to this post, Susan. It is remarkable that we have both read all of these books -at least at some point! I share your reservations about LW's edit of Woolf's A Writer's Diary. However, part of what that book demonstrates -even abridged- is that there can be a lot of tedium and repetition in an artistic endeavor. Perhaps LW did omit passages that would have further revealed (and embarrassed?) VW, her family and circle, but I bet there was a lot that wasn't illuminating. A Writer's Diary compelled me to reread Woolf's novels and other prose. Where on Earth will I find time for that when contemporary authors keep producing new work?!
      Yes to more inspiring books -both fact and fiction- in 2016!

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