Modern American Memoirs [Paperback]

Annie Dillard (Editor), Cort Conley (Co-editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 1996

In Modern American Memoirs, two very discerning writers and readers have selected samples from 35 of the finest memoirs written in this century, including contributions by such diverse writers as Margaret Mead, Malcolm X, Maxine Hong Kingston, Loren Eisely, and Zora Neale Hurston. Chosen for their value as excellent examples of the art of biography as well as for their superb writing, the excerpts present a broad range of American life, and offer vivid insight into the real-life events that shaped their authors. Here, readers can learn about the time when Harry Crews, playing as a boy, fell into a vat of boiling water with a dead hog; Chris Offutt joined the circus and watched a tattooed woman swallow a fluorescent light; and Frank Conroy practiced yo-yo tricks.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Annie Dillard and publisher Cort Conley have collected excerpts from the memoirs of 35 20th-century American authors. The selections represent the best in autobiographical writing published between 1917 and 1992. Included are nine women and 26 men, both black and white, some better known than others, all distinguished writers and wonderful storytellers. Chris Offutt's "The Same River Twice" tells about the author's stint working in the circus; Anne Moody's "Coming of Age in Mississippi" describes her participation in the 1963 Woolworth sit-in. The editors precede each entry with a biographical and contextual note. There's an opening essay on the art of the memoirist and an afterword listing additional classics in the genre. This rich collection serves as an introduction to the nation's best modern writers and a primer on the American experience. Highly recommended for all libraries.?Carol A. McAllister, Coll. of William and Mary Lib., Williamsburg, Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In her introduction to this anthology of well-chosen excerpts from memoirs by a satisfyingly diverse group of writers, Dillard muses on the many forms memoirs take. The author is free to interpret his or her life in any way he or she chooses. Memoirists are shrewd editorialists, leaving out entire facets of their lives--husbands, wives, siblings, bad habits, boring everydayness, outrageous behavior--anything that doesn't conform to the image they want to project. Many memoirs focus sharply on the author's childhood, that time in every life when even the most ordinary things loom menacingly or magically large. Some memoirs resemble fiction, others have the pleasing momentum of essays. Dillard and Conley have selected vibrant examples of all these approaches, showcasing the work of a distinctive and, in some cases, unexpected group of writers, including Wallace Stegner, Kate Simon, Maureen Howard, Frank Conroy, Richard Selzer, Harry Crews, Loren Eiseley, James Baldwin, Margaret Mead, and Maxine Hong Kingston. Whatever tinkering these writers may have done with the facts of their past, they've done nothing to conceal the truth of their lives which shines from every beautifully, often courageously composed page. Donna Seaman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; First Harper Perennial Edition edition (August 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060927631
• ISBN-13: 978-0060927639
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Art of the Personal, July 1, 2002

By 

Francisco X. Stork (Boston MA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Modern American Memoirs (Paperback)

This wonderful collection of autobiographical pieces is extraordinary in the variety of lives that are represented. I cover my eyes from Wallace Stegner's Saskatchewan dust and then I open them to witness the East River sunset from Barry Lopez' window. I sneak books out of a Memphis library with Richard Wright and then I'm with Cynthia Ozick digging out of a crate from the Traveling Library. The book's radiance comes not only from the rainbow of lives reflected but from the craftmanship, the nuts and bolts of changing the stuff of life into art. So many ways, so many self-less, ego-less ways to transform the personal into the universal, to say I am you and you are me and we are all.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely imaginative and colorful composition, April 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Modern American Memoirs (Paperback)

This is one of the most intoxicating books I have ever read. Annie Dillard, one of America's most well known authors for her detailed illustrations of nature, has magnificently compiled a book of memoirs that colorfully describes the American society and its struggles throughout history. This book gives you the bitterness of struggles by various well known figures such as Malcolm X and Maxine Hong Kingston. It builds an intense image of the daily life in the most detailed and delicious way possible.

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars varied classics make good reading for the writer of nonfiction, September 29, 2005

By 

E. B. Brinkley (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Modern American Memoirs (Paperback)

Annie Dillard, the editor of this collection, is widely considered one of the foremost American writers of nonfiction. Akin to the sophisticated, peerless, but somewhat dry,"The Art of Fact, " a fabulous, though now somewhat-dated anthology for those journalists who wanted to expand their rule-driven pieces, these are only somewhat relevant as contemporary examples, mostly useful to the writer studying how the genre of creative nonfiction has evolved over the last century into modern-day anthologies, such as the "Best American Magazine Writing," or even, "Literary Journalism." The writing is, line by line, richly artistic (far too many people are misusing the word "artful" lately--my pet peeve, but maybe I should just give up and start using it to mean "full of art"). On a positive note, Dillard has carefully chosen varied forms to show the genre's possibilities. Loren Eiseley's, "The Star Thrower," depends heavily on symbolism and theme to great effect, while Chris Offutt's stunning piece is one of the more contemporary. All have heart and emotional honesty; every writer here showed great courage. Scholars and writers of creative nonfiction should have this on the shelf, and certainly there is much to learn from studying these ("study" being the operative word; all are investments of time). A better selection for the younger writer in the genre looking for a quicker fix of literary gems might be Dave Eggers new anthology, "The Best American Nonrequired Reading," (not exclusively nonfiction but a winner) for more new and exciting experimental techniques. Nevertheless, a valuable and well-chosen classic work. Extra half-point for nice cover art. (This is not a yearly anthology). Also see "In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction," ed. Lee Gutkind, for peerless, and more contemporary, work in the genre.