Overview

This book analyzes a collection of literary memoirs to demonstrate how this genre is an avenue for participation in public life.  Writers are repurposing the memoir, a genre known for its personal and expressive function, to engage in debate and serve political goals.  The chapters provide case studies for memoir as social action that effects change by looking at the writing of Joan Didion, John Edgar Wideman, James McBride, M. Elaine Mar, Janisse Ray, Lucy Grealy, and Ann Patchett. Drawing on theories of genre and agency, Danielewicz asserts how these writers are acting pragmatically. Memoirs contribute to democratic society by offering solutions, creating new knowledge, revealing social trends, bringing issues to light, creating empathy and connection, and changing public opinion. 

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9783319888101

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Author Information

Jane Danielewicz is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. Her articles and book chapters represent her interest in both literary and rhetorical studies; she has published in journals such as Life Writing as well as College Composition and Communication. She was named the Richard Grant Hiskey Distinguished Professor of Research and Undergraduate Teaching and has twice received the Max Chapman Faculty Fellowship from the Institute for the Arts & Humanities at UNC.  She has won numerous awards for teaching undergraduate and graduate students.

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