 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
  |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Writing about your relatives and friends
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"I knew from the age of 30 that I would have to write about my father because of the peculiarity of our case. It just bedded itself down in the back of my mind as something I would eventually do, and the time came when my father died.
It would have been embarrassing, intrusive and impertinent to write about my father when he was alive. But I think that if the heart is right , if your feelings about your parents are as they should be, then there's very little chance of giving offence. My mother read my book and it seemed to her that it was almost a thank you note to her for being born. If you're grateful to have been born, then I think there's very little risk of hurting others."
Martin Amis
"Another reason why I wanted to write my family memoir, Losing the Dead, is that although my parents were in many ways very ordinary people, they did live through a historical moment that engendered some kind of heroism, and a lot of ordinary people do have that. And also we live in an age where migration is, in a sense, the norm. And a sense of dislocation is then transmitted to the children and I think that's worth exploring for a lot of people - it was certainly worth exploring for me.
My memoir makes sense of a childhood quandary that many children of immigrants find themselves in - they cannot understand what it is that makes their parents behave in ways which are so out of keeping with the society in which they live, and so unravelling that, and giving it life in words, was a good thing to do."
Lisa Appignanesi
Learn from reading exceptionally well written memoirs
Martin Amis regards Vladimir Nabokov's Speak Memory as the most artistic memoir ever written.
"Speak Memory works more like a poem - the connections are made through textures, colours and tastes. You do have to write the memoir that measures up to your life. Speak Memory is the prince of memoirs. Nabokov led a world historical life and it deserves a world historical and poetic memoir."
Martin Amis
Lisa Appignanesi admires Jenny Diski's memoir Skating to Antarctica because it beautifully combines a physical journey with an emotional journey into the past.
"Jenny Diski writes so well about the mundane things that make up a life and character. The little things make one think about the big things - death, birth and so on."
Lisa Appignanesi
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
