MEMOIR

Memoir- having an intimatea record of an events written by a person

knowledge of then and based on personal observation.
• From a French word “memoire”,which means “memory”or
“reminiscence”,A memoir is a subgenre of creative nonfiction that
recounts the experiences of someone’s life.It usually involves a
public portion of the writer’s life as it relates to a historic
event.Memoirs fall under the same broad category that includes
biographies,autobiographies,and diaries.
BIOGRAPHIES- are an account of one’s life written by another
person.They are heavily based on research , whereas memoires rely
mostly on memory and recollection.
MEMOIRS,AUTOBIOGRAPHY ,AND DIARIES- are all written by
the individual whose story being told.However, a memoir concerns a
very specific life event , whereas an autobiograpahy recounts a more
general,broader story of one’s life. A diary is a day -to -day account of
a person’s life,and is thus an immediate recording of personal
experiences. A memoir , because it is written some time after the
significant period of one’s life,allows for profound reflection and
introspection on the part of the writer.
 A memoir can be a powerful means a chronicling a historical episode through
one person’s firsthand experience of that event.It preserves a moment of history ,
not jus through documentation of dates and occurrences , but through the eyes of a
person who has really lived it. There is a certain degree of emotion and
subjectivity involved because it includes the author’s personal feelings and is told
solely from his perspective.
Memoir can be a great opportunity to focus awareness on issue that may not
otherwise be given much notice. Read the excerpt below from a book titled,
Unmeasured Strength by Lauren Manning, a memoir recounting a survivor’s story
during the terrorist attacks on 9l11 in the United States.
Such is the unique power of the memoir,and it has become one of the most
popular genres of the 21st century.