Comments on: Mary Karr and Augustine: Spiritual Autobiography in the 21st Century http://www.100memoirs.com/2010/02/mary-karr-and-augustine-spiritual-autobiography-in-the-21st-century/ Because 99 just isn't enough Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:55:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: whollyjeanne http://www.100memoirs.com/2010/02/mary-karr-and-augustine-spiritual-autobiography-in-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-799 whollyjeanne Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:20:55 +0000 http://www.100memoirs.com/?p=1104#comment-799 thanks for letting us crash at your place, shirley. thanks for letting us crash at your place, shirley.

]]> By: shirleyhs http://www.100memoirs.com/2010/02/mary-karr-and-augustine-spiritual-autobiography-in-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-798 shirleyhs Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:59:27 +0000 http://www.100memoirs.com/?p=1104#comment-798 I love when readers start talking to each other! Reminds me of the times in class when I could just sit back and watch the class carry the conversation forward on their own. Hope you can read Lit without any permanent damage to your nose, whollyjeanne. I love when readers start talking to each other! Reminds me of the times in class when I could just sit back and watch the class carry the conversation forward on their own. Hope you can read Lit without any permanent damage to your nose, whollyjeanne.

]]> By: shirleyhs http://www.100memoirs.com/2010/02/mary-karr-and-augustine-spiritual-autobiography-in-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-797 shirleyhs Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:53:39 +0000 http://www.100memoirs.com/?p=1104#comment-797 Enjoyed your post on Kierkegaard and added your blog to my blogroll. (Thanks for adding mine to yours.) I quite agree about forgiveness. Have you ever written at length about that subject? Enjoyed your post on Kierkegaard and added your blog to my blogroll. (Thanks for adding mine to yours.) I quite agree about forgiveness. Have you ever written at length about that subject?

]]> By: shirleyhs http://www.100memoirs.com/2010/02/mary-karr-and-augustine-spiritual-autobiography-in-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-792 shirleyhs Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:18:16 +0000 http://www.100memoirs.com/?p=1104#comment-792 I love this interpretation of Angela's Ashes. And I hope I can remember the quote about firewood heating you twice. Memoir is definitely like that. We get to live many lives if we can reflect on them deeply and at different stages of live. I love this interpretation of Angela's Ashes. And I hope I can remember the quote about firewood heating you twice. Memoir is definitely like that. We get to live many lives if we can reflect on them deeply and at different stages of live.

]]> By: whollyjeanne http://www.100memoirs.com/2010/02/mary-karr-and-augustine-spiritual-autobiography-in-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-791 whollyjeanne Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:08:52 +0000 http://www.100memoirs.com/?p=1104#comment-791 well, red-faced jeanne here to say that when i read susan's comment out loud, i realize i misread it before. susan, i thought you were pondering IF karr's flat-out honest writing was my unrecognized reason. now i see you asked WHAT that unrecognized reason is. so i've answered, to the best of my knowledge, it'll just sound a little wonky without this context. well, red-faced jeanne here to say that when i read susan's comment out loud, i realize i misread it before. susan, i thought you were pondering IF karr's flat-out honest writing was my unrecognized reason. now i see you asked WHAT that unrecognized reason is. so i've answered, to the best of my knowledge, it'll just sound a little wonky without this context.

]]> By: whollyjeanne http://www.100memoirs.com/2010/02/mary-karr-and-augustine-spiritual-autobiography-in-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-789 whollyjeanne Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:53:55 +0000 http://www.100memoirs.com/?p=1104#comment-789 don't think that's the reason cause i loved cherry and liar - especially liar in which some of the things weren't true, but karr refused to tell which ones aren't true and successfully argued for it to remain a memoir instead of going onto the fiction shelf. i think it has more to do with it being a hardback, and since i do most of my reading at bedtime, i usually wait till the paperbacks come out because hardback books can become lethal weapons when i doze off and they meet with my nose;) after leaving my comment earlier this morning, i clicked over to my local library and reserved lit. will just make sure i read during the awake and upright hours. don't think that's the reason cause i loved cherry and liar – especially liar in which some of the things weren't true, but karr refused to tell which ones aren't true and successfully argued for it to remain a memoir instead of going onto the fiction shelf. i think it has more to do with it being a hardback, and since i do most of my reading at bedtime, i usually wait till the paperbacks come out because hardback books can become lethal weapons when i doze off and they meet with my nose;) after leaving my comment earlier this morning, i clicked over to my local library and reserved lit. will just make sure i read during the awake and upright hours.

]]> By: Susan Cushman http://www.100memoirs.com/2010/02/mary-karr-and-augustine-spiritual-autobiography-in-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-787 Susan Cushman Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:32:41 +0000 http://www.100memoirs.com/?p=1104#comment-787 Karr does just what you prefer: she "flat out owns her life" and there is no sniveling, whining or wallowing. I wonder what that "unrecognized reason" is that you put the book back on the shelf? Karr does just what you prefer: she “flat out owns her life” and there is no sniveling, whining or wallowing. I wonder what that “unrecognized reason” is that you put the book back on the shelf?

]]> By: whollyjeanne http://www.100memoirs.com/2010/02/mary-karr-and-augustine-spiritual-autobiography-in-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-786 whollyjeanne Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:39:33 +0000 http://www.100memoirs.com/?p=1104#comment-786 well, huh. i picked up "lit" again last thursday . . . and, for unrecognized reasons, put it back on the shelf (again). as for your t/f question, my answer is t. drawing from my life and the lives of others, i have written personal histories and memoirs, and my thesis in grad school focused on autoethnography. whether reading or writing, i prefer those in which the author flat-out owns their life, finding it cleaner somehow, cutting through that snivelly, whiney, woe-is-me, wallowing voice. well, huh. i picked up “lit” again last thursday . . . and, for unrecognized reasons, put it back on the shelf (again). as for your t/f question, my answer is t. drawing from my life and the lives of others, i have written personal histories and memoirs, and my thesis in grad school focused on autoethnography. whether reading or writing, i prefer those in which the author flat-out owns their life, finding it cleaner somehow, cutting through that snivelly, whiney, woe-is-me, wallowing voice.

]]> By: richardgilbert http://www.100memoirs.com/2010/02/mary-karr-and-augustine-spiritual-autobiography-in-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-785 richardgilbert Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:07:40 +0000 http://www.100memoirs.com/?p=1104#comment-785 So glad you called our attention to this. I think that confession in the sense of speaking the truth is vital. It takes courage and isn't trivial. And a sense of sin in the sense that anything which diminishes or takes for granted the gift of life is a sin—unhappiness is a sin. Not in the religious way, but in the truly spiritual. Perhaps because I've just blogged on Kierkegaard such things are on my mind, but I feel that more than these forgiveness is the sine qua non of memoir as it is of life. I find this aspect implicit in what you have quoted concerning Karr's work. And from what I have read of her, she can be angry but isn't bitter, because of forgiveness. I admire her for that. So glad you called our attention to this. I think that confession in the sense of speaking the truth is vital. It takes courage and isn't trivial. And a sense of sin in the sense that anything which diminishes or takes for granted the gift of life is a sin—unhappiness is a sin. Not in the religious way, but in the truly spiritual. Perhaps because I've just blogged on Kierkegaard such things are on my mind, but I feel that more than these forgiveness is the sine qua non of memoir as it is of life. I find this aspect implicit in what you have quoted concerning Karr's work. And from what I have read of her, she can be angry but isn't bitter, because of forgiveness. I admire her for that.

]]> By: jerrywaxler http://www.100memoirs.com/2010/02/mary-karr-and-augustine-spiritual-autobiography-in-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-784 jerrywaxler Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:49:47 +0000 http://www.100memoirs.com/?p=1104#comment-784 As for confession, I found Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" to be a sort of giant confession. Towards the end of the book he sits with a priest. When he refuses to enter the confessional, the priest says in effect "let's just sit here and you can tell me your story. It will make you feel better." He tells the priest, and incidentally also tells us, and presumably in the telling he shares his load. A friend of mine who grew up on a farm says, Firewood heats you twice, first when you cut it and second when you burn it. Memoirs are like that. They relieve you when you write, and then when you share. <br><br>Jerry<br><a href="http://www.memorywritersnetwork.com/blog" rel="nofollow">Memory Writers Network </a> As for confession, I found Frank McCourt's “Angela's Ashes” to be a sort of giant confession. Towards the end of the book he sits with a priest. When he refuses to enter the confessional, the priest says in effect “let's just sit here and you can tell me your story. It will make you feel better.” He tells the priest, and incidentally also tells us, and presumably in the telling he shares his load. A friend of mine who grew up on a farm says, Firewood heats you twice, first when you cut it and second when you burn it. Memoirs are like that. They relieve you when you write, and then when you share.

Jerry
Memory Writers Network

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