Editing Memoir

{{Short description|Type of autobiographical or biographical writing}}
{{About|the literary genre}}
[[File:Walden Thoreau.jpg|thumb|200px|Title page of [[Henry David Thoreau|Henry Thoreau]]'s memoir, ''[[Walden]]'' (1854)]]

A '''memoir''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛ|m|.|w|ɑr}};<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/memoir |title=memoir |website=[[Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary|Oxford Learner's Dictionaries]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> {{etymology|fr|mémoire}} {{IPA|fr|me.mwaʁ|}}, {{etymology|la|memoria|memory, remembrance}}) is any [[nonfiction]] [[narrative]] writing based on the author's personal memories.<ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster|memoir|access-date=July 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/memoir |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222132611/https://www.lexico.com/definition/memoir |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-12-22 |title=memoir |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of [[biography]] or [[autobiography]] 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 as [[touchstone (metaphor)|touchstone]] moments and turning points in the author's life. The author of a memoir may be referred to as a '''memoirist''' or a '''memorialist'''.

==Early memoirs==
Memoirs have been written since the ancient times, as shown by [[Julius Caesar]]'s ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]]'', also known as ''Commentaries on the Gallic Wars''. In the work, Caesar describes the battles that took place during the nine years that he spent fighting local armies in the [[Gallic Wars]]. His second memoir, ''[[Commentarii de Bello Civili]]'' (or ''Commentaries on the Civil War'') is an account of the events that took place between 49 and 48 BC in [[Caesar's civil war|the civil war]] against [[Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus|Gnaeus Pompeius]] and the [[Roman Senate|Senate]]. The noted [[Libanius]], teacher of rhetoric who lived between an estimated 314 and 394 AD, framed his life memoir as one of his literary [[oration]]s, which were written to be read aloud in the privacy of his study. This kind of memoir refers to the idea in [[ancient Greece]] and [[ancient Rome|Rome]], that memoirs were like "memos", or pieces of unfinished and unpublished writing, which a writer might use as a memory aid to make a more finished document later on.

The ''[[Sarashina Nikki]]'' is an example of an early Japanese memoir, written in the [[Heian period]]. 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. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Wayback Machine |url=https://web.english.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Sarashina_Diary.pdf |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220320125109/https://web.english.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Sarashina_Diary.pdf |archive-date=2022-03-20 |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=web.english.upenn.edu}}</ref>
 
In the [[Middle Ages]], [[Geoffrey of Villehardouin]], [[Jean de Joinville]], and [[Philippe de Commines]] wrote memoirs, while the genre was represented toward the end of the [[Renaissance]], through the works of [[Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de Montluc|Blaise de Montluc]] and [[Margaret of Valois]], that she was the first woman to write her ''Memoirs'' in modern-style.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Viennot, Éliane, ''[http://revue.etudes-episteme.org/IMG/pdf/1Marguerite_de_Valois2.pdf Marguerite de Valois et l'écriture de l'histoire, 1574-1614] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919174443/http://revue.etudes-episteme.org/IMG/pdf/1Marguerite_de_Valois2.pdf |date=2020-09-19 }}'', ''Études Épistémè'', 17, spring 2010.</ref> One of the first known examples of medieval memoir writing is Villehardouin's De la Conquête de Constantinople, which provides a first-hand narrative of the Fourth Crusade.

Until the [[Age of Enlightenment]] encompassing the 17th and 18th centuries, works of memoir were written by [[Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury]]; [[François de La Rochefoucauld (writer)|François de La Rochefoucauld]], Prince de Marcillac of France; and [[Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon]], who wrote ''Memoirs'' at his family's home at the castle of [[La Ferté-Vidame]]. While Saint-Simon was considered a writer possessing a high level of skill for narrative and character development, it was not until well after his death that his work as a memoirist was recognized, resulting in literary fame.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Saint-Simon, Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de |volume= 24 |last= Saintsbury |first=  George |author-link= George Saintsbury | pages = 47&ndash;48 }}</ref>

==From the eighteenth century==
[[File:Archive-ugent-be-7D309E20-C7E9-11E0-A4B4-E65737D8FA8C DS-9 (cropped).jpg|thumb|200px|An excerpt from the manuscript "Memoires on [[Napoleon]]'s campaigns, experienced as a soldier of the second regiment", written by [[Joseph Abbeel]], 1805–1815.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gedenkschriften over Napoleon's veldtochten, meegemaakt als soldaat bij het 2e regiment carabiniers te paard, 1805–1815|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:7D309E20-C7E9-11E0-A4B4-E65737D8FA8C#?c=&m=&s=&cv=2&xywh=-1262,-184,6523,3642|access-date=2020-08-28|website=lib.ugent.be}}</ref>]]
Over the latter half of the 18th through the mid-20th century, memoirists generally included those who were noted 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 businessmen. An exception to these models is [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s 1854 memoir ''[[Walden]]'', which presents his experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near [[Walden Pond]]. Thoreau's memoir, which emphasized the individual's interaction with nature and independence, became a key work of American literature, especially within the transcendentalist movement.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Roots of Preservation: Emerson, Thoreau, and the Hudson River School, Nature Transformed, TeacherServe®, National Humanities Center |url=https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nattrans/ntwilderness/essays/preserva.htm |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=nationalhumanitiescenter.org}}</ref>

Twentieth-century war memoirs became a genre of their own, including, from the [[First World War]], [[Ernst Jünger]] (''[[Storm of Steel]]'') and [[Frederic Manning]]'s  ''Her Privates We''. Memoirs documenting incarceration by [[Nazi Germany]] during the war include [[Primo Levi]]'s ''[[If This Is a Man]]'', which covers his arrest as a member of the [[Italian Resistance Movement]], followed by his life as a prisoner in [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]]; and [[Elie Wiesel]]'s ''[[Night (memoir)|Night]]'', which is based on his life prior to and during his time in the Auschwitz, [[Monowitz Buna Werke|Buna Werke]], and [[Buchenwald concentration camp|Buchenwald]] concentration camps.

==Memoirs today==
In the early 1990s, memoirs written by ordinary people experienced a sudden upsurge, as an increasing number of people realized that their [[Ancestor|ancestors']] and their own stories were about to disappear, in part as a result of the opportunities and distractions of technological advances. At the same time, [[psychology]] and other research began to show that familiarity with [[genealogy]] helps people find their place in the world and that life review helps people come to terms with their own past.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ledoux |first1=Denis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDUoXUx1UfIC |title=Turning Memories Into Memoirs: A Handbook for Writing Lifestories |publisher=Writer |year=2006 |isbn=978-0974277349 }}</ref> 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 inexpensive [[Self-publishing|digital book production]] in the first decade of the 21st century,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Henke |first1=Harold |url=https://archive.org/details/electronicbookse0000henk |url-access=registration |title=Electronic Books and ePublishing: A Practical Guide for Authors |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2001 |isbn=978-1852334352 |access-date=2014-12-12 }}</ref> the [[Literary genre|genre]] 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Balzer |first1=Paula |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCBjDwAAQBAJ |title=Writing & Selling Your Memoir: How to Craft Your Life Story So That Somebody Else Will Actually Want to Read It |publisher=Writer |year=2011 |isbn=978-1599631356 |access-date=2019-08-28 }}</ref>

The [[Association of Personal Historians]] was a trade association for professionals who assisted individuals, families, and organizations in documenting their life stories.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wright |first=Chris |title=Ordinary people |work=[[The Phoenix (newspaper)|The Phoenix]] |publisher=Phoenix Media/Communications Group |date=2002-01-17 }}</ref> It dissolved in 2017.

== Collections ==
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. The [[Veterans History Project]], for example, compiles the memoirs of those who have served in a branch of the [[United States Armed Forces]] – especially those who have seen active combat.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/vets|title=Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)|work=loc.gov}}</ref>

== Terminology ==
Memoirs are usually understood to be factual accounts of people's lives, typically from their early years, and are derived from the French term ''mémoire'', meaning "reminiscence" or "memory."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-10-09 |title=Memoir: Definition and Examples |url=https://literaryterms.net/memoir/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |website=Literary Terms |language=en}}</ref> However, some works, which may be called free memoirs, are less strictly bound to remembered facts: "One type of life story is the ''free 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 in ''free translation'', that is, 'not literal or exact.'”<ref>{{Cite web |last=Says |first=Masterarchivist |date=2015-03-13 |title=The Free Memoir: A License to Thrill |url=https://backhandblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/13/the-free-memoir-a-license-to-thrill/ |access-date=2024-01-25 |website=Backhand Blog |language=en}}</ref> 

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Books}}
* [[Diary]]
* [[Fake memoirs]]
* [[Graphic memoir]]
* ''[[Histoire de ma vie]]''
* [[Last will and testament]]
* [[List of autobiographies by presidents of the United States]]
* [[List of American political memoirs]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|35em}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wiktionary}}
* [https://celadonbooks.com/what-is-a-memoir/ "What Is a Memoir?"]
* [https://writershivemedia.com/creative-writing/how-to-start-writing-a-memoir-tips-for-starting-your-memoir/ "How to Start Writing a Memoir: 14 Tips for Starting Your Memoir"]
* [https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/so-you-think-you-can-write-memoir "So You Think You Can Write a Memoir?"]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Memoirs| ]]
[[Category:Literary genres]]
[[Category:Non-fiction genres]]
[[Category:Works about history]]