There’s a moving scene in Justin Cronin’s Mary and O’Neil. O’Neil has just witnessed the birth of his first child. Alone in the hospital in the middle of the night, he makes calls to his relatives. Then he remembers his parents.
From the category archives:
Books
Here’s a list of 20 pieces of life writing (autobiography, biography, anything in between) I loved reading. In most cases that also means that, in reading them, I learned something new about writing lives.
I’ve written a fair bit about facts, and when I studied biography at university some time ago I showed considerable disdain for them. But sometimes I’m reminded that biography presents problems that are not merely theoretical.
{ 0 comments }
I like this sketch by the Two Ronnies: Apart from making me laugh, it reminds me of two things. First, it reminds me that the way we’re used to doing things, and the way that initially seems to make most sense, isn’t the only way to do it. There’s nothing absolute about the labels we [...]
{ 0 comments }
It’s common for works that merge fact and fiction to include some form of paratextual apology or explanation that fusses over the work’s precise status.I’ve already touched on this when discussing Margaret Forster’s Diary of an Ordinary Woman, whose ‘Author’s Note’ tries to draw a line between the book’s factual origins and its fictional outcome.Even [...]
{ 0 comments }