Truth in Memoir

In Caroline van de Pol's thesis paper, Truth in Memoir, I think her general argument is that the lines between truth (or what we believe to be truth) and fiction are often blurred... and the reverse is also true. But, looking through the lens of fiction in memoir Ms. van de Pol utilizes her own writing experience of her memoir Ways to Fly as a way to show how her memoir blurred these lines. She also incorporates examples from other memoir writers and researchers to demonstrate how truth becomes fictionalized.

I think that this is incredibly true and her point is well made. Unless someone is capturing every memory and event contemporaneously (which would be difficult to do - especially as a three-, four-, five-year old, etc.) memories become malleable. As she writes in her paper, "...autobiographies do not form indisputable authorities, but rather offer one person's view of truth, a truth that can be distorted by memory and the telling of it." There are certain things that our ingrained in our brains, but as we grow and gain distance from an event, we reinterpret what happened, how we felt, what it meant through a certain lens of our current experiences. As Ms. van de Pol quotes researcher Liz Stanley, "remembering... constantly evokes a reinterpretation of the past in the present."

There are a couple of questions that she poses, but one in particular grabbed my attention: Does narrating a life fictionalize it? As I think about this question, my answer would be sure. But fiction does not, in my mind, necessarily equate to untruth. When we tell stories (or at least when I tell stories) I can't help but add elements which I believe make it more compelling or interesting to the reader/listener. But I think that there is a difference between fiction and untruth - particularly when you consider how the lines between the two often are blurred. Fiction often contains certain elements of truth and vice versa.

The best way I can think to summarize my thoughts on Truth in Memoir would be if I were to write about my high school graduation moments after it happened. I could probably tell very specific and accurate details of where I sat, who I walked with, who from my family attended, where we went to lunch to celebrate afterwards, how excited I was for the next stage in my life, and a myriad of other specific details. If I were to write about that ten years after graduation some of those details would probably be a little bit hazy, and it's almost certain that I would interject different opinions about the event at age 28 that I wouldn't have at 18 - maybe instead of being excited about the next chapter, maybe at 28 I would be thinking about how that would create a longing for simpler days. And I'm sure that story would continue to evolve if I wrote about graduation 20, 30, or 40 years later. I don't doubt that certain details wouldn't change - where it was at, who some of the people were that I captured pictures with, and roughly when the ceremony happened for example. But interjecting my 30-, 40-, or 50-year old self into that memoir would most certainly happen. So, it becomes somewhat fictionalized, but there are elements of truth that exist. More importantly, who's to say that my memory is NOT my truth. It's my story. It's my perspective.