Memoir As Bewilderment

Robert Frost would sometimes say at his readings that “poems are about what you don’t mean as well as what you do mean.” This could also apply to the contemporary concept of memoir.
When we first approach the idea of writing a memoir, we generally write what we believe is our individual and unique autobiography. But, as we press on, we find that our story is connected to everyone’s story. Only then can we access the deeper mysteries of life.

In this memoir writing workshop with Nick Flynn, we wrestle with these deeper mysteries, as well as with the idea of bewilderment, and explore how we can embody both in our memoirs through syntax, our access to the duende, leaps into the unconscious, or simply circling around what is unsaid, unknown, and unrealized.

We also look for moments when we begin to stutter and stumble when talking about our projects, for that is the threshold beyond which is unknown, beyond which is the white space on the map.

Familiarize yourself with The Next American Essay edited by John D’Agata.