(1548.pdf) TEACHING MEMOIR WRITING TO LITERATURE CLASSES

摘要

Executive Summary:Memoir (from French memoire and Latin memoire, meaning “memory” or “reminiscence”) is a typeof literary genre, which forms a subcategory of autobiography. Even though the terms“autobiography” and “memoir” are almost interchangeable, the Memoir follows much of the criteriafor autobiographical writing, even though not all autobiographical writing follows the same criteriaas for the Memoir.Memoirs possess the expressed interest of preserving and studying history through the eyes ofparticipants: those who have lived it. For instance, the Veterans History Project compiles theMemoirs of those who have served in a branch of the U.S. Military, particularly those engaged inactive combat. There is a great interest in reading and writing Memoirs today. Many libraries andcolleges have Memoir Writing classes and senior citizens, and several service companies publishMemoir collections at no cost, for those who have participated in a writing a Memoir.Need:Jewish Memoirs and Jewish-American Memoirs are very important because they serve as timecapsules celebrating the rich and diverse Jewish culture, tradition, and history. Jewish Memoirsmust be studied and analyzed for their rich contributions to American and to World Literature andHistory.While reference will be made to Memoirs by such notable Jewish writers, such as Gertrude Steinand Philip Roth, my proposal is to research the significance of the Jewish memoir particularlythose by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Mary Burchell, Aaron Lansky, Rachel Calof, Gloria Goldreich, andAdam Hochschild, and to analyze their significance in keeping the form of the Memoir alive, whilealso recording Jewish history and culture.Objectives:I will not only focus on teaching and analyzing how the Jewish memoirs are valuable timecapsules for recording Jewish tradition, history, and culture, but I will engage the students inexploring and investigating how they operate as timeless literary masterpieces. Students will putthe theory behind creating Memoirs and create one, themselves; this objective shall be achievedthrough discussion, analysis, individual conferences, and peer editing.