Love this topic! I took a Black Women’s Writing class in grad school that was primarily autobiographical or semi-biographical texts. But we also talked about diaries, cookbooks, and collages as an effort to combat generalizations about black women during the early twentieth century and its resonance as a form of storytelling. Such as with Give Each Day by Alice Dunbar-Nelson.
I find it fascinating when women transcend the “formal” literary form.
I could not agree more!! Good writing is good writing! Who cares if it’s auto fiction?! Often some of my best stories are inspired by my own experiences bc as they say, life is stranger than fiction. Thanks for writing this!
This piece is so monumental for so many reasons. Thank you for writing this and for suggesting a refrain I can stand behind: “so fucking what?!” “Literature” rules & “bold” storytelling are so cliquey I can’t stand it sometimes lol
Love this. People forget that James Baldwin’s first novel was very close to his life, and all of Phillip Roth’s novels too. I wonder if because authors’ real lives are more visible via social media, it’s become more of a fixation, or a way to say “well it was easy for them to write that because it’s just their diary. I could do that if I tried. But I won’t because I’m better than that.”
Yes to all of this! If I was writing to please readers or critics, I’d have given up many drafts ago. I loved your line: “We write to work out on paper what we struggle to work out away from it.”
Love this topic! I took a Black Women’s Writing class in grad school that was primarily autobiographical or semi-biographical texts. But we also talked about diaries, cookbooks, and collages as an effort to combat generalizations about black women during the early twentieth century and its resonance as a form of storytelling. Such as with Give Each Day by Alice Dunbar-Nelson.
I find it fascinating when women transcend the “formal” literary form.
Sounds like an amazing class oh my god!!
I could not agree more!! Good writing is good writing! Who cares if it’s auto fiction?! Often some of my best stories are inspired by my own experiences bc as they say, life is stranger than fiction. Thanks for writing this!
EXACTLY. I'm glad this resonated!! :)
This piece is so monumental for so many reasons. Thank you for writing this and for suggesting a refrain I can stand behind: “so fucking what?!” “Literature” rules & “bold” storytelling are so cliquey I can’t stand it sometimes lol
Thank you so much for reading!! Im glad it resonated. “So fucking what?” should definitely be on a mug lolll
Love this. People forget that James Baldwin’s first novel was very close to his life, and all of Phillip Roth’s novels too. I wonder if because authors’ real lives are more visible via social media, it’s become more of a fixation, or a way to say “well it was easy for them to write that because it’s just their diary. I could do that if I tried. But I won’t because I’m better than that.”
Yes to all of this! If I was writing to please readers or critics, I’d have given up many drafts ago. I loved your line: “We write to work out on paper what we struggle to work out away from it.”
I think about this a LOT and can't believe I stumbled upon this piece; you articulate this idea surrounding thinly-veiled memoirs perfectly!