So, then, what is memoir? A memoir should “lift from the raw material of life a tale that will shape experience, transform event, deliver wisdom.” In other words, the writer’s story needs to illustrate a point. Rather than simply telling us what happened, the writer should tell us why what happened matters. Did it lead to a discovery? Was a lesson learned? Was it a defining moment? For Vivian Gornick, writing memoir requires an imagination and a search for the truth. She notes that V.S. Pritchard once said, “It’s all in the art. You get no credit for living.”
Gornick, Vivian. The Situation and the Story. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001, p. 91.