This is what the New Autobiography genre is: the discovery of the unique story or stories your life makes. It is the application of story structure to your life experiences to give them meaning. It's reading your life as if it were a dream, asking, "What hidden significance do these characters and these events have for me?" It's shaping these elements into what is compelling to read as a contemporary novel. The New Autobiography asks that you perceive your life as a writer would, not simplistically, but with the mystery and complexity of literature. [Most of these books tend to be tedious, pretentious, and narcissistic works of bad fiction.]
Tristine Rainer, Your Life as Story, 1998
Tristine Rainer, Your Life as Story, 1998
No comments:
Post a Comment