The Memoir as Provocation: A Case for "Me Studies" in Undergraduate Clases

This essay argues that undergraduate courses in memoir and autobiography can improve students' writing, reading, and critical thinking abilities, in part because such courses allow students and instructors to explore contemporary American culture's complex fascination with individuality and self expression. Also, these classes can encourage students to be critics of the commodification of "life stories" and the desire of autobiography readers/consumers for total authenticity—a desire that seems to have been strengthened by recent scandals about fabricated or exaggerated memoirs. First, the essay explores why creative nonfiction courses focused on memoir may be charged with fostering self-indulgence, and why those charges are sometimes justified. Then, the essay builds a case for the unique benefits of teaching, reading, and writing memoir, emphasizing the important issues that memoirs encourage students to contemplate, including the "authenticity" and appeal of narrative voice, the social construction of subjectivities, and the ethics of writers and readers.