Comments on: Memoir Interview with 60’s Celebrity Dee Dee Phelps http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/ 140 Essays to Help You Read and Write Memoirs by Jerry Waxler Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:54:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: ritergal http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/#comment-727 ritergal Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:02:19 +0000 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/#comment-727 How intriguing that she is talking about minimizing emotion in memoir. I've read several memoirs lately in which the author does just that, sticks to showing without much personal interpretation. The consensus of the reading group I belong to is that these memoirs (i.e. "Glass Castle") evoke a lot of personal reaction in readers who have had similar experiences, but the authors seem, well, detached, like they were writing about someone else, or perhaps even making things up. Or, perhaps that they don't want to delve into things too deeply for their own reasons. There must be some middle ground to report enough personal involvement to sound credible and grounded in the story without spilling too many guts. Now I'm for sure going to have to read Dee Dee's book. How intriguing that she is talking about minimizing emotion in memoir. I’ve read several memoirs lately in which the author does just that, sticks to showing without much personal interpretation. The consensus of the reading group I belong to is that these memoirs (i.e. “Glass Castle”) evoke a lot of personal reaction in readers who have had similar experiences, but the authors seem, well, detached, like they were writing about someone else, or perhaps even making things up. Or, perhaps that they don’t want to delve into things too deeply for their own reasons.

There must be some middle ground to report enough personal involvement to sound credible and grounded in the story without spilling too many guts.

Now I’m for sure going to have to read Dee Dee’s book.

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