The Power of the Memoir

BREAM’s newest audio class, Memoir Writing, is now live. Led by founder and talented visual artist Ryan Reid, this class explores the form of the memoir as a vessel to reflect on and recount our greatest and most intimate moments. The power of the memoir, as it stands as a literary genre, lies in its inspiringly truthful and raw nature. 

The Nature of the Memoir

Inherent in all writing, but especially the memoir is the aspiration to understand. So when we write memoirs, we are asking ourselves deeply reflective questions, questions such as Who am I? How did I get here? What is the meaning of my life? that seek a greater understanding of both ourselves and the world around us. Because of this, writing a memoir can be a deeply cathartic and healing experience, as we are able to explore specific past circumstances through a more experienced perspective. Memoir writing is a journey of self discovery; we are able to negotiate the past, transforming it into a piece of art– a story that can then be passed down through generations. 

Beyond just simple narrative, memoirs can also include and pass down specific wisdom, themes and shared experiences. Many memoirs center on themes of perseverance and overcoming a certain type of adversity, or epiphany and the process of self discovery, which can be incredibly relatable and inspiring to read about. 

Memoirs for Further Reading

If you’re looking for some inspiration to begin writing, or just love the memoir genre, we’ve compiled a short list of excellent memoirs we recommend. 

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

By Maya Angelou

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.

When Breath Becomes Air 

By Paul Kalanithi

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

By David Sedaris

Me Talk Pretty One Day is a collection of twenty-seven essays exploring the author’s childhood in North Carolina, his relationship with his family, his time living in France, and observations about American social life. Told with sardonic humor, each chapter deploys various levels of fantasy, irony, and other narrative comedic techniques to highlight the mundanity of Sedaris’s everyday experiences while also adding relief to more grave subjects.