Do you want to know how to write a memoir about your life? How to write memoirs without looking like a fool? How to remember the events of your life? How to correctly present all this in the correct sequence?
“To restore oneself through memories means to be resurrected by uniting oneself in the present with oneself in the past.”
Lev Karsavin.
If you have already decided to write your own memoirs, but do not know where to start, then this article is just for you. Well, if you still don’t know why write memoirs, then read.
Where to start writing memoirs
Firstly, it should be understood that memoirs- this is not an autobiography, in which the narrative begins from birth and sequentially passes through the entire “life calendar”. In memoirs, this sequence is not an axiom, although some orderliness is needed. You can simply take some significant piece of your life and build your memoirs on it.
Many people turn to their childhood as the most mysterious and interesting topic for memoirs. The difficulty is that few people remember their own childhood in such detail that they could write at least a couple of pages of text about it. But that's just how it seems.
In fact, you just haven’t remembered your childhood for a long time. Once you start, you can be captured by such a powerful wave of memories that it’s enough for more than one notebook. Family albums with photographs, old letters, diaries, music and video recordings and, of course, stories from your relatives will help you here.
And also the Internet! Yes, yes. You can find a lot of useful reminders of the past here. Now on many forums and social networks there are sections and groups where visitors post a lot of pictures and nostalgic memories from the Soviet past. Here are children's toys of that time, industrial goods, food products, and much more.
Looking through these materials, you may suddenly remember that this is exactly the toy you had in your childhood, and the sight of kefir bottles with a foil cap or chewing gum “Well, wait a minute” for 15 kopecks may lead you to long-forgotten memories that you just and would never remember.
Secondly, it is very useful to read already published memoirs as an example. Find Memory Speak by Vladimir Nabokov, or In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, or My Early Years by Winston Churchill. You shouldn’t be embarrassed by the fact that they were great writers, but your writing at school only got C grades or worse. You don't have to become one of the greats. But there is a lot to learn from them. At least just to be inspired.
Thirdly, you should find some key, very significant moment in your past, from which you can go on a journey down the waves of memory. Start remembering it in all possible detail and writing it down in a draft.
Perhaps at the same time you will begin to remember earlier events that are also very significant for you. Write them down too. You can draw a mind map using this key event as a basis. This is a very good help, which can serve as a kind of plan for you to write a subsequent detailed text.
It's a start, what's next?
Suppose you have found a suitable key moment in your life and have begun to write down memories of it, even if it is still rather chaotic. How to make it so that later it all looks more or less like a book, and not like a collection of incoherent passages that no one but you will be interested in reading.
Any fiction must have a plot. It is the plot that draws in the reader and arouses his interest in further reading. No plot - no interest.
In the case of memoirs, everything is exactly the same. You need to link all your memories into some coherent plot. The difficulty is that at the very beginning of taking notes, this plot is not always visible even to you. You simply write down your memories, not knowing in advance what else will pop up in your memory.
Therefore, build storyline in memoirs, it makes sense from about the middle of the story or even at the very end, when you yourself come to certain conclusions and results. You may even want to rewrite everything again, shuffling the memories and arranging them in a completely different order.
Of course, in your narrative there should be some bright, anchor events, conflicts that you either managed to resolve, or they left a noticeable imprint on your life. This piques the reader's interest. If everything is written down smoothly, without any outbursts of emotional waves, then reading it will be unbearably boring even for you.
Therefore, do not spare emotions and do not hesitate to write them out in all colors. After all, you are writing the book of your life. So let it be bright!
“Memories are magical clothes that do not wear out from use.”
Robert Stevenson.
As with any successful endeavor, there must be a certain method to writing a memoir. If, on a wave of enthusiasm, you “remembered” a cart and a small cart in one evening, quickly wrote it all down, and then abandoned it for a month or two, then you are guaranteed to have to start all over again. It will be very difficult to start from the same place where you left off last time.
Therefore, it is better to write at least a little, but every day, or every other day or two, but do not give up this activity for a long time.
Many people may be put off from the idea of creating memoirs by the fact that they need to allocate time for remembering and subsequent writing, but there is not enough of it anyway. Take an example from the famous writer Julia Cameron. She often writes in fits and starts, when everyday life I have a free minute or two.
You can go about your daily activities and at the same time remember something from your past, making short notes in a notebook, on a smartphone or laptop, or even just on paper napkins or on any piece of paper. To do this, you don’t need to set aside any special time, lock yourself in a strict office with an oak table and a table lamp a la “Serious Writer”.
What can you write in your memoirs?
The truth! Memoirs are not fiction. First of all, it is a truthful description of events that took place in the past, and the author’s thoughts about these very events, his attitude towards them, the emotions, thoughts and conclusions associated with them.
Moreover, the word “truth” means that you will not describe yourself only with positive side, but also tell us without concealment about some negative aspects. Life consists not only of successes, but also of failures. When you talk about them, you inspire trust in the reader.
Do not use passive constructions and clericalisms in the text. It's just mega-boring! Passive designs are an official style that smacks of bureaucracy.
Examples of passive constructions: “tasks were completed,” “problems were solved,” “the work was done,” etc. Instead, use active constructions: “I completed the task,” “we solved the problem,” “I did this work.”
Stationery- words and figures of speech that also came from the official style of business papers. These are all kinds: is, is taking place, was in the state that, this, called, should, according to, in case of, in connection with, due to the fact that, despite the fact that, due to the fact that, namely, as well as, etc.
Use as few difficult words, definition words, very long words, or very rare words (obsolete) as possible. You may consider this to be a decoration of the text, but the reader will not understand this, or will think that you are just showing off.
Describe events in a specific environment, not uncertainties hanging in the air. If this event took place in a cafe, give a brief but comprehensive description of the decoration of this coffee shop and its customers. This will immerse the reader in a specific environment and make them feel the atmosphere of the space.
Use sensory descriptions rather than simply: oak table, red lamp, fat waiter. Instead write: the rough surface of an oak tabletop, the soft and mysterious light of an old red lamp, a fat and clumsy waiter, “smelling” of sour soup, in a dirty, crumpled apron.
The reader must experience it all for himself. Therefore, use more words that describe specific sensations - visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and gustatory.
In addition, in memoirs it is quite acceptable and even encouraged to use metaphors, quotes, dialogues and other literary embellishments, as long as they are appropriate and fit into the overall outline of the narrative. Not only will they add variety to your text, but they will also add some flair, which is always a hit with readers.
How to finish a memoir
Any good (read interesting) story has a beginning and an end. Your memoirs too. They cannot be left halfway unsaid. You may not be able to draw any vital conclusions yourself, but the story must be brought to its logical conclusion. If the story is still ongoing, then your memoirs are not finished yet and will be supplemented with new materials over time.
When you finish writing, reread everything from beginning to end and “drain water” along the way. This means that it is necessary to eliminate from the text everything that is unnecessary, not essential, or is written in too florid and detailed. If these ornateness and details do not reveal the essence of the matter, then they are clearly useless.
It is very easy to check the text for “water”: you read the sentence, see a dubious word in it, delete it and check whether the meaning and essence of the sentence has been lost. If not, then the word was indeed superfluous.
You check a paragraph of text in the same way. If any sentence in it is superfluous, then away with it! And you do the same with the paragraphs themselves, mercilessly removing them from the text.
After all these heroic efforts, you have to take an equally heroic step - give the memoirs to your closest friends and family, whom you trust, to read. Thus, you pursue two goals:
1. Check how interesting and informative your story is (based on reviews);
2. Check how complete the information is presented.
The second point may lead you to want to supplement your memoirs with information that your first readers will provide you with. Perhaps you yourself could not remember something, but it turned out to be significant. You may have made a mistake in your memories, and your friends can help you correct this.
In any case, feedback is needed. So don't be shy about asking people to read your writing and give that feedback.
Go for it!
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Igor Levchenko. Writer, blogger, photographer. Psychologist by training, storyteller by vocation. Life credo - everything happens at the right time!
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Comments:
Tatiana
19.10.2016
I've been thinking about writing my own memoirs for a long time. Thanks for the useful tips!)
Maria Dmitrieva
18.12.2016
Curious! I always thought that memoirs were something purely for writers, not for ordinary people. I don't know if I would like to write my memoirs. Maybe in the future.
Igor Levchenko
19.12.2016
Maria, everyone comes to this in their own time :)
Svetik
26.01.2017
I haven’t thought about memoirs yet, but I’ve been keeping a diary since I was 10 years old. I have already accumulated a whole box)) Maybe in the future they will be useful to me for my memoirs. Thank you for this article!))
Igor Levchenko
26.01.2017
The diary is just a great helper in this matter! I even envy you a little :) I started keeping my notes only in adulthood.
Vyacheslav
27.01.2017
Igor, have you already written your memoirs? :)
Igor Levchenko
07.03.2017
Vyacheslav, I’m writing little by little :)) This process is long and very interesting. The more you remember, the more new memories come that you completely forgot about. We have to correct something, add something. So everything is in progress.
Yuri
07.03.2017
More than 20 years ago, I began to think... how to present my life correctly and accurately, without moralizing... from the baby home to graduation... I started writing several times..., I gave up, I started again, the desire remained, but the “enthusiasticism” was no longer there. In the article, everything is explained so clearly..Thank you!
Igor Levchenko
07.03.2017
Please, Yuri! With age, enthusiasm is replaced by pragmatism. To start doing something again, you just have to start, without any enthusiasm and any expectations. Interest will appear in the process. I do this myself all the time. Sometimes I have absolutely no desire to write, but the habit has already developed, so I just sit down and write. And gradually, if not enthusiasm, then just interest in working further appears. This is how we live :)
Yuri
08.03.2017
Thank you. Good luck!
Igor Levchenko
11.03.2017
Thank you, Yuri! And you too! :) If you have any questions, I will be happy to help
Natasha
10.05.2017
In the synopsis of an autobiographical story (for the publisher), is the description given in the third person? Thank you.
Igor Levchenko
10.05.2017
Natasha, that’s right, usually in a synopsis they write in the third person.
Alexander
13.10.2017
I’ve thought about writing my memoirs many times, but I don’t feel like writing, I’ve been writing all my life, at work, letters, analytical notes, theses, etc. I would like to dictate. M.b. anyone will help. but I want to call it this: Fortune Telling.
Igor Levchenko
13.10.2017
Alexander, everything is in your hands! :) If you write a lot yourself, then you are unlikely to like how another person will describe your life. You will constantly see shortcomings either in the style or in the presentation of the material. In addition, memories are a tricky thing; something new always pops up as you write.
Valentina
10.12.2017
I wrote a book. I re-read it. It became sad and offensive. Deleted. Now family and friends are increasingly reminding us that it’s time to get back to this business. I don't want to write under my own name. How to stay incognito? I don’t want to show my memoirs to my family. Why do they need to know the painful details of my life? How do people even find a publisher?
Memoir literature
Memoir literature 1. Scope and composition of the concept. 1. SCOPE AND COMPOSITION OF THE CONCEPT.- M. l. (from the French memoire - memory) - works of writing that consolidate in one form or another the memories of their authors about the past. Sometimes approaching fiction, in particular, for example. to such genres as family chronicle (see) and various types of historical fiction, M. l. However, it differs from them in the desire to accurately reproduce a certain area of reality. Unlike fiction, works of memoir literature carry exclusively or predominantly cognitive functions without any special artistic attitudes. However, it is sometimes extremely difficult to draw a clear line between them and fiction. Neither “The Diary of Kostya Ryabtsev” by Ognev, nor “Confessions d’un enfant du siecle” by Musset with the works of M. l. are not. But already in Dickens’s “David Copperfield” or especially in S. Aksakov’s “Family Chronicle” we find a huge number of autobiographical realities, which form the basis of literary and artistic treatment. Feedback is quite possible here - in the monuments of M. l. there may be, to one degree or another, a desire for artistic expression. Thus, the memoirs of an Italian adventurer of the 18th century. Casanova is no stranger to the techniques of the gallant adventure novel of the Rococo era, and the memoirs of the Decembrist N. A. Bestuzhev are written in a clearly idealizing everyday manner, following the models of the classical biographies of Plutarch. The combination of the aspects of “reliable” and “fiction” in a memoir creates enormous difficulties for a biographer of a writer or a researcher of his work (a classic example of this fusion is Goethe’s “Dichtung und Warheit”). The proportion of the relationship between both elements can vary extremely greatly: the elements of fiction, almost completely dominant in Stern’s “Sentimental Journey,” fade into the background in Karamzin’s “Letters of a Russian Traveler,” an elaborate diary written by Karamzin during his trip to the West. Europe; This work stands at the border between artistic and literary works. The latter often turns out to be deeply fruitful for literature: thus, “Chapaev” by Furmanov, being an artistic generalization of a certain period and corner of the civil war, at the same time retains a greater degree of closeness to reality, which undoubtedly increases the reader’s attention and contributes to the success of the work. 2. CLASS DETERMINITY OF MEMOIRS GENRES.- In literary studies of the past, attempts have been made repeatedly to establish the general formal characteristics of literary fiction. These attempts were not in any way successful. Features characteristic of memoir works of some eras cease to be mandatory in other eras; the products of some class groups are radically different from works that express a different class ideology and serve a different class practice. The Lefovites cultivated M. l. for its “factuality” in contrast to fiction, supposedly based on “fiction”. It is not difficult to discover the fictitiousness of this division: memoirs very often embellish reality, depict it from a certain angle, and outright distortion of facts. Smirnova’s “Notes” do not cease to be a fact of M. l. because they contain a lot of unreliable and downright erroneous things. 3. ISSUES OF RELIABILITY M. L.- The documentary form of M. l., the apparent “ingenuousness” of her narrative, however, do not serve as a guarantee of its veracity. Memoirs suffer the usual fate of testimony, even in the absence of malicious distortion of reality; the author's class position, his worldview affect both the choice of facts, their coverage, and the conclusions from these facts; orientation of M. l. cannot but serve certain purposes of class practice. Tatishchev also took this point into account when determining the degree of reliability in Count Matveev’s report about the Streltsy revolt: “Sylvester Medvedev, a monk of the Chudov Monastery, and Count Matveev,” he says in his “Russian History,” “described the Streltsy rebellion, only in legends of the passions very they disagree and are more disgusted, because Count Matveev’s father was killed by archers, and Medvedev himself took part in that rebellion.” The idea that the study of M. l. does not require special proof. can be scientifically fruitful not only adjusted for the personal bias and direct interest of the authors (similar to those noted by Tatishchev), but first of all, subject to the disclosure of the specific historical class purposefulness of the memoirs, which fully retains its important role in cases where the author acts as a “third-party observer.” Memoirs, like any other literature of a class society, serve the purposes of ideological and political struggle against one or another class enemy. In this regard, references from the book. Kurbsky’s focus on “reliable men” does not prevent us from perceiving his notes as a sharp political pamphlet in his struggle with Ivan the Terrible or, more broadly, in the struggle of one group of landowners against another, which seized power in the Moscow state. 5. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEMOIRS.- Memoirs, as a source of information about the life of a particular era, provide important material on the history of literary life. We know a number of notes devoted to literary life or reproducing most interesting moments from the life of one or another artist of the word. These are eg. notes of the brothers Goncourt, George Sand, Chateaubriand and others. In Russian. We have an extensive literary history that has significant historical and literary value. Here we must keep in mind, along with the notes of the artists themselves, words, such as. Pushkin’s diary, Fet’s “My Memoirs”, etc., as well as notes from those who, due to the nature of their activities, had the opportunity to observe literary life closely from its daily, everyday side, which is little accessible to the general public. Thus, N. I. Grech, the author of “Notes on My Life” (2nd ed., St. Petersburg, 1886, last - M., 1928), had the opportunity, as editor of the “Northern Bee,” to provide a lot of information on the history of Russian artistic words and journalism (in particular, about the activities of censorship), although he often deliberately distorted them. A. V. Nikitenko (“My story about myself and what I witnessed in life”) reveals many interesting episodes from the activities of the Censorship Committee, of which he was a long-term member. Memoirs of A. Panaeva (see), ex-wife I. I. Panaeva, and then Nekrasov’s common-law wife for 15 years, contains a lot of information not only about the personality and literary work of Nekrasov, but also about a whole galaxy of writers with whom she had to meet or about I heard a lot from friends. 6. MAIN HISTORICAL MILESTONES M. L.- After all that has been said above, it is clear that studying the social nature of M. l. It is most convenient to use the material of specific memoir genres that have historically developed in a specific class style and have a certain ideological content. So, in the very fact of increased gravitation towards M. l. In general, the class orientation of literary formations can already have an effect. The attraction to the individualistic type of memoirs on the part of A. France (“Little Pierre”, “The Book of My Friend”, etc.) cannot but be connected with the passivity and passionism of his work, and through this creativity - with a passive role, which The group of middle bourgeoisie that put it forward, cut off from direct participation in production and in the economic struggle, must have realized that the group of middle bourgeoisie that put it forward was becoming more and more hopeless (see France). However, from the repeatedly observed fact - the dual use of the same literary material - it is clear that even in its general form, interest in M. l. cannot be interpreted in isolation from the place it occupies in the concrete situation of the class struggle.
2. Class determination of memoir genres.
3. Questions of reliability of M. l.
4. Techniques for examining M. l.
5. The meaning of memoirs.
6. Main historical milestones of M. l.
Quite a lot different genres M. l. often intertwined with each other. The primary and, in a certain sense, the most primitive form of M. l. is a diary - daily or periodic entries by the author, outlining the events of his personal life against the background of the events of contemporary reality (the latter, however, is not always necessary). The diary represents the primary form of M. l. - there is no general perspective of events here, and the narrative is based on the molecular connection of the records, united by the unity of the person presenting them, the system of his views. An example of this type is the recently published “Diaries” of M. Shahinyan. Memories or notes are a more complex and frequent form of M. l. Here the author gets the opportunity to look back from a perspective, cover a larger period of time and analyze its events from the point of view of a certain ideological concept. There is less randomness in memories; they contain much more elements of selection and screening out events. The third form can be considered an autobiography, shorter than memoirs in scope and covering the most important and turning points in the history of a person (memories can tell about reality in general, but for an autobiography it is necessary to find the personality at the center of the story). An autobiography is often written for special reasons - e.g. a writer reviewing his creative path (see the collection of autobiographies “Our First Literary Steps” by N. N. Fidler, “Writers about themselves,” Edited by V. Lidin, etc.). An autobiography dedicated to certain, especially turning-point events in the life of a writer, is often also called a confession (cf., for example, “Confession” by L. Tolstoy, written by him after a creative turning point in 1882, or the dying “Author’s Confession” by Gogol). This term, however, is not entirely defined, and for example. Rousseau's Confessions are more of a memoir. If the center of gravity is transferred from the author to persons with whom he was connected in some way in the past, a form of biographical memories arises. These are eg. memoirs of N. Prokopovich about Gogol, Gorky about L. Tolstoy, which do not provide a complete scientific biography, but provide the most valuable material for it. Finally, if memories of a loved one are written in connection with his death and under its direct impression, we have the form of an obituary.
It must be noted that this classification is schematic and in itself does not determine the genre essence of a particular work by M. L., although it brings us closer to revealing this essence. Study of forms of M. l. must be specific: only then will typological analysis be saturated with specific class content and give us a complete understanding of the essence of those socio-political tendencies that define this or that genre of literary fiction. Abstract study of M. l. outside the processes of class struggle that create it is absolutely fruitless.
Timeless features do not define the being of a literary form; the form and content of the cut are determined by the interweaving of specific socio-historical conditions. In such memoirs as “Bolotov’s Notes,” on the one hand, and “The History of My Contemporary” by V. G. Korolenko, on the other, there is nothing in common except the desire for the most truthful depiction of the past, a desire manifested in different content and various forms between two representatives of different classes in two profoundly different historical eras. Studying memoirs outside their specific class context inevitably leads to idealistic abstractions.
Being a specific form of manifestation of certain styles, memoir genres are determined in all their features by the same socio-economic conditions that determine styles, and serve the same goals of class practice. The memoirs of S. T. Aksakov, created by a representative of landowner Slavophilism, differ significantly from the memoirs of I. A. Khudyakov, a representative of the revolutionary raznochinstvo, who expressed the interests of the revolutionary peasant democracy of the 60s. Aksakov’s memoirs (“Family Chronicle”, “Childhood of Bagrov’s Grandson”) paint the everyday idyll of a noble estate of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, idyllically interpreting even the ugliest aspects of this life (“good afternoon” of the landowner, including kicks to the servants), give a picture education, life and training of a young nobleman in the conditions of an established, calm, prosperous estate life, highlighting as a necessity the most severe abuse of serfs (grandfather’s “sin” and other episodes). Aksakov’s memoirs, a genre telling about the family estate life of a noble family at the end of the 18th century, idealize the bygone world, to which the Slavophile landowner gravitated with his social cult of the ancient landowner system. Thus, the artistic memoirs of S. T. Aksakov served in the class struggle political function protection of noble estate land ownership at a time of growing revolutionary struggle against feudalism in Russia, when it had been brewing since the late 50s. The revolutionary situation wrested the “liberation of the peasants” from serfdom.
The memoirs created by the revolutionary democrat and Karakoz resident I. A. Khudyakov are different. I. A. Khudyakov - representative of the avant-garde of revolutionary populism of the 60s, supporter political revolution in the interests of the peasantry and the “people” in general. Undoubtedly sharing the views on the asceticism of a revolutionary and the “severe discipline of personal life” common to the entire circle of Ishutinites, he gave his memoirs different stylistic and genre features than the representative of landownership. The memoir genre of I. A. Khudyakov, reflecting the socio-political life of the era of the 60s, is an expression of “the second stage of the revolution - the raznochinsky or bourgeois-democratic stage,” according to Lenin. If the landowner-memoirist poeticized his past, his childhood and youth, the revolutionary commoner regarded this past as an irreparable evil. “Our life,” Khudyakov states in the preface regarding his upbringing, “remained broken and broken and was filled with a number of physical and moral sufferings.” I. A. Khudyakov recognized the benefits of “autobiographies, frankly written,” the character of which he imagined as follows: “Real life is always more instructive than fictional; and in this respect well-written biographies are always more instructive than novels.” In an essay about his life, he “omitted those particular details that could have been a godsend for a novelist or artist,” and gave an image of “his unsuccessful struggle with the most severe obstacles to the achievement of the human ideal.” The author's class position and worldview determine the specific historical features of this memoir genre.
Differentiation of memoir genres also exists within a single class style. The memoirs of S. I. Kanatchikov “The History of My Life” and A. E. Badaev “Bolsheviks in the State Duma” are works by representatives of the working class, created almost simultaneously during the era of the construction of socialism (1928-1929). While there is a unity of class consciousness and class experience between these two memoirists, their memoirs represent different genres. “The History of My Life” by S. I. Kanatchikov is a social and everyday memoir, the memoirs of A. E. Badaev are socio-political. S.I. Kanatchikov paints a picture of the gradual growth and transformation of a village boy into a conscious worker, proletarian. Against the background of hard working life in the factories of Moscow and St. Petersburg, the process of formation of a young proletarian, a conscious fighter for the interests of the proletariat, in conditions of capitalist exploitation, the path of his cultural growth and political development and the fight against capitalism are shown. The memoirs of A. E. Badaev reveal the political struggle of the Bolshevik faction in the State Duma in the last years before the revolution of 1917. They describe the revolutionary events of the last years of the existence of the monarchy and show how the activities of the faction were reflected in the revolutionary struggle of the working class and how, in turn, certain moments mass workers' movement were reflected in the work of the faction. These two memoirs give different aspects of a single class experience. Since the authors, representatives of the same class, paid attention to different aspects of reality, they created different genres within the single style of proletarian literature. Nevertheless, these are genres of one class experience - representatives of proletarian socialism.
Each memoirist shows only those facts on which his class consciousness is concentrated, grouping and interpreting the facts from his own class position in the interests of the class struggle. The social and class interests of the author of the memoirs are determined, for example. the fact that A. Galakhov, a representative of the reactionary nobility of the 40s, speaking in his memoirs about 1825, did not say a word about the Decembrist uprising. On the contrary, A. I. Herzen, who belonged to the “generation of noble landowner revolutionaries of the first half of the last century,” in which “despite all the fluctuations between democracy and liberalism, the democrat still prevailed” (Lenin), gave an enthusiastic assessment of the Decembrist uprising as ideological fighters against tsarism, infecting their descendants with their example.
Class consciousness and class interests, determining the themes of memoirs, of course also determine the memoirist’s point of view on the phenomena depicted, on their coverage and interpretation. From here it is clear that the same phenomenon (event, person, fact of literature or journalism) in the memories of representatives of different social groups receives not only a different assessment, but also a different presentation of the sequence of the event or a different retelling of what was heard and seen. L. Tolstoy, in the memoirs of his like-minded people, receives the traditional iconographic appearance of a sentimental sage and non-resistance to evil. In the memoirs of M. Gorky, he is shown as a living person with bright features of contradictory psychology, through which Lenin saw a man in master Tolstoy. The question naturally arises, whose depiction of L. Tolstoy is the most truthful, the most reliable, i.e., objectively historical? The memoirs closest to objective truth will be those that reflect the criticism and worldview of the advanced, revolutionary class of a given era. Gorky's memoirs represent the highest degree of objectivity in the knowledge and depiction of L. Tolstoy, while the memoirs of the Tolstoyans do not provide a correct reflection of reality. The highest degree of objective historical knowledge of reality is also represented by the memoirs of proletarian revolutionaries in comparison with the memoirists of other groups (classes) who have gone to those active now. The revolutionary practice of the advanced class provides the most true, accurate and deep knowledge of phenomena.
The difference in class tendencies, determined by the difference in the class experience of different class groups (classes), creates deeply different and opposing genres of literary fiction. Single genre M. l. does not exist. The genres of literary fiction arising on different and opposing class foundations. different and opposite in both primary and secondary characteristics.
The class orientation of memoirs reduces their objective-cognitive function, usually if it comes from reactionary classes, exploiting classes interested in covering up the contradictions of reality. And vice versa, the consistent partisanship of representatives of the revolutionary classes increases the objective educational value their memoirs. In this regard, the highest level is represented by the corresponding records of proletarian revolutionaries, leaders of the working class, whose revolutionary practice, historical tasks and ultimate goals form the real basis for the most profound and accurate knowledge of the surrounding world. This is Lenin’s final brochure about the Second Congress of the RSDLP (“One step forward, two steps back,” 1904), which is a kind of “memoir” of one of the participants in the events. This work remains unsurpassed to this day as the pinnacle of a truly scientific and truly objective, with all its partisanship, understanding of one of the most important stages in the development of the international labor movement. It is enough to compare with this Leninist Bolshevik, genuine authenticity the subjectivist distortion and vulgarization of historical reality by L. Trotsky in his book “Mein Leben” (My Life) in order to see the completely opposite cognitive meaning of M. l., the class orientation of which follows the line of class interests of the bourgeoisie and counter-revolution.
When assessing autobiographical entries, in addition to all of the above, one should keep in mind that these entries are often compiled with the explicit purpose of self-justification and self-defense of their author. The most detailed and extremely factual at first glance notes of the Decembrist D.I. Zavalishin, when compared with a number of historical documents, turn out to be very unstable in their supposedly documentary-accurate statements, especially regarding the behavior of Zavalishin himself in the case of December 14: the noble pose of the author of the notes is completely discredited a series of protocol records, sealed with his signature, and a report from the investigative commission. Even in cases where the author sets himself the special goal of exposing himself, one should not succumb to the emphatically sincere tone of such self-exposure. In “Confession,” Rousseau uses this effective motif of extreme frankness more than once in an actorly manner.
But of particular value for a literary historian are notes written by great literary artists and providing rich material not only for studying the writer’s biography, but also for studying the creative personality of the writer (memoirs of J. Sand, Mme de Stael, the Goncourt diary, memoirs of Goethe and others - in the West, diaries of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Bryusov, memoirs of M. Gorky - here). In such works we often find direct indications of the writer’s intentions and the creative history of individual specific works. In addition, in addition to cases of direct instructions, records acquire a new and special meaning in the context of creative history, in which vital material is reproduced in documentary form, which was found in the same author and another reflection - artistic. From this point of view, the memories of M. Gorky, collected in his books “Childhood”, “In People”, “My Universities”, etc., are of great value. A comparison of the persons depicted here and the events depicted with the first early works of the same Gorky provide excellent material for judgments not only about the creative process, about the emergence work of art, but also about the creative method, about artistic style writer, about his class attitude to the material of life.
M. l. can further provide abundant historical material not only for literary research, but also for the literary artists themselves. It is known that when creating War and Peace, Tolstoy made wide use, along with general historical research, of the memoirs of contemporaries of the era he depicted. Memoir materials often provide much more scope than scientific works on history for studying the everyday nature of the era, the psychology of individuals, etc.; M. l. sometimes it speaks more to the writer’s imagination and provides more resources for the concrete embodiment of his artistic images. That is why the authors of the so-called. “historical” novels willingly resort to memoir sources. Anatole France, in the novel “The Gods Thirst,” depicting the Great French Revolution, and in the collection of short stories “The Mother-of-Pearl Casket,” dating to the same era, reproduces a number of episodes borrowed from the extensive M. l.
Often and much wider use of M. l. - when an artist borrows from someone else’s notes all the plot material and type of his work. This is how many stories and novellas of Soviet literature arose, dedicated to the era of the civil war. As a typical example of the use of one of these memoirs, one can point to Vsevolod Ivanov’s story “The Death of the Iron”, the plot of which is based on the memories of the Red commander L. Degtyarev, but the transmission and coverage of the facts have been changed.
Due to the fact that most of the notes are not directly prepared for publication and are made public only later, the value of the material presented in them increases, since it is less subject to distortion by the official censorship of the author at the time and to the correction of the preliminary secret censorship of the author himself. Because of this, in M. l. Such details have reached us that they hardly penetrated or did not penetrate at all into the press of their time. In the notes of A. S. Pishchevich, for example. we find many facts that the author had the opportunity to closely observe as a dragoon during the reign of Catherine II and then in the civil service under Paul I; Many of these facts reveal for us the details of officer and bureaucratic life at that time, and report on all sorts of “everyday” abuses in the service. It is not surprising that memoirs preserved from the influence of contemporary censorship, when made public in subsequent eras, arouse especially suspicious attitudes on the part of censors. Thus, Bolotov’s memoirs, dedicated to the 18th century, were significantly distorted in the first edition, published after the author’s death: in subsequent editions it was necessary to restore missing episodes from the manuscript, sometimes depicting representatives of the bureaucracy, officers and clergy in an unattractive light, even against Bolotov’s wishes. Naturally, the greatest scope for studying M. l. as a monument of past life and historical situation arises when state power passes into the hands of other classes who are not interested in “concealing the secrets” of a class that has already disappeared from the scene.
The October Revolution especially contributed to the revival of literary literature, which relates to the past and reveals what, under the conditions of this past, could not be revealed earlier. A whole series memoirs of revolutionary figures have been made public over the past few years, providing enormous material on history revolutionary movement in Russia, on the history of political parties and internal party disagreements, revealing the specific situation of the class struggle (memories of Lenin by N.K. Krupskaya, A.I. Elizarova, - V.N. Sokolova (“Party card No. 0046340”), N. Nikiforova ( "Ants of the Revolution"), etc.).
At the same time, in connection with the heightened sense of historical responsibility of our revolutionary era, the “latentness” usual for most memoirs turned out to be radically revised: the recording of what is happening in the revolutionary struggle is now made, in a number of cases, not in the leisure time of old people, and certainly not in in any case, not for distant descendants, but in the process of struggle, for contemporaries, for comrades in the same struggle. Most memories of Lenin are of this nature; Such a goal dictated the organizational work to record and record memories of the activities of the Red Army and began on the initiative of Gorky, “History of Factories and Plants.”
In this situation M. l. creates a number of specific class genres. History of the genre evolution of M. l. has not yet been written, nothing has yet been done to study individual memoir genres from the point of view of their class characteristics, but it is still possible to note some groups of memoir works with a fairly obvious social-genre nature. “Comments on the Gallic War” by Julius Caesar, which combines a number of purely military, political, ethnographic, geographical and other information about Gaul, the circumstances of its origin and, most importantly, its general tendency - to get to know the conquered country and contrast it with the idea of Roman statehood - serve an expression not only of the expansion of the slave state in the era of its heyday (1st century BC), but also of the military-political strategy of Julius Caesar that grew on this soil, who brilliantly took advantage of the class and tribal contradictions of the Gauls in the interests of the Roman state. “Confessions” of St. Augustine (IV-V centuries AD), interpreting theological problems from an individual psychological point of view, telling about attacks of unbelief, religious doubts and hesitations, about the temptations of worldly life, finally designing itself in a style not intended for theologians , but for secular readers - is the result of the economic decline of the large-landowning class of the Roman Empire, whose interests were expressed by Augustine, and the peculiar literary and ideological “decadence” associated with this decline.
Geoffroy de Villegarduin's notes on the crusade, in which he himself took part, are typical of the feudal era. The feudal-church ideology of the ruling classes finds expression here primarily in the fact that Villehardouin tries to portray as a Christian feat the openly predatory campaign of the “crusaders” of 1202, which caused confusion even in the minds of his contemporaries; for the “holy army,” instead of fighting the “infidels,” as it was supposed to, entered into an agreement with the Venetian Republic and plundered the lands of the Christian East in order to form a new Latin empire on the ruins of Byzantium. The subordination of all the historical and historical-everyday material cited in Villehardouin’s notes to the high theme of “serving the Lord,” disdain for fact as such, and the replacement of analysis of facts with generalized declarations about them characterize the literary design of these notes.
The era of the liberation struggle of cities against the feudal lords is vividly reflected in the memoirs (“De vita sua”) of the French theologian-historian Guibert of Nogent (XI-XII centuries), hostile to the rising burghers, but already absorbing the influence coming from the emerging urban culture. Guibert carefully studies the surrounding reality (expressive descriptions of the history of the Lanskaya commune, his childhood, youth, etc.), life interests him in itself, he gravitates towards everyday sketches, etc.
The memoir part of Dante's "New Life" in his biographical comments to the sonnets and canzones dedicated to Beatrice, gives the theme of ideal-mystical love for a woman, familiar to the late Middle Ages, in a new, individualistic version, thereby reflecting that general individualism, which became more complex in Dante's work the traditional ideology of the feudal nobility in the context of the growth of trading cities.
The autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, a most characteristic work of the era of growth of capitalist relations in the 16th century, can be completely opposed to medieval memoirs. In the distinctly individualistic approach to facts, in the cultivation of colorful, life-saturated material, in the absence of lifeless, abstract, life-leading reasoning, not just the personal makeup of the artist-adventurer Benvenuto Cellini is revealed, but the ideology of the young bourgeoisie of the Renaissance, its willfulness and healthy epicureanism.
In Germany, the era of the Reformation and religious wars creates the form of political memoirs (notes of Charles V, autobiography of G. von Berlichingen, etc.), often turning into a pamphlet (see).
In Spain, which became in the XVI-XVII centuries. great colonial power, a group of memoirs appeared written by participants in the conquest (notes and memoirs of Columbus, Pizarro, Diaz, etc.). These memoirs are usually descriptions of travel to unknown lands, the life of exotic countries, and the exploits of Spanish weapons. They are imbued with the spirit of adventurism, Catholic missionary work, and admiration for the heroism of the conquerors.
Memoirs of the era of Louis XIII and Louis XIV in the choice of depicted facts, in the cultivation of little things related to court life and the royal person, and in connection with this in the microscosm of the very manner of depiction - one of the most visible literary manifestations of the courtly aristocratic environment of the 17th century. The most characteristic example can be the memoirs of Duke Saint-Simon, who speaks with equal significance about the major political events of that time, and about court intrigues, about the worldly appearance, about the manners of the king (cf. the memoirs of Louis XIV’s favorites Montespan and Maintenon, the gallant “Memoirs” Duke de Grammont", written at the beginning of the 18th century by A. Hamilton, as well as from earlier - “Memoirs” by Brantome, depicting the history and morals of the court of Charles IX and his successors).
We find similar types of memoirs in Russia, but, due to the general lag of Russian historical process, only starting from the 18th century. (notes of Catherine II, Prince Dashkova, Yu. V. Dolgorukov, F. N. Golitsyn, V. N. Golovina and many others).
The disintegration of the absolute monarchy was reflected in the character of Casanova’s memoirs (18th century), in the entire ideology of this international adventurer expressed in them, in the entertaining epicureanism of a playmaker, in themes consisting of court, social and love intrigues, flavored with cabalistic quackery, in the main tendency to amusing and entertaining in the choice of facts and in the presentation. Other trends permeate the memoirs of the ideologists of the rising bourgeoisie. Voltaire's memoirs disavow the old order; Rousseau (Confessions), Goldoni and Goethe, recounting their life stories, create a monumental biography of a representative of the rising third estate, growing into a central figure of the last century.
The French Revolution revives the genre of political memoirs (notes of Lafayette, Mme. de Staël, Mirabeau, C. Desmoulins, Madame Roland and many others), distinguished for the most part by a clearly expressed party orientation and passionate attitude to issues social life.
“Memoirs of a Parisian bourgeois” by Dr. Veron, published in the middle of the 19th century, both in the subject matter, which leads to a restaurant, to the stock exchange, to the editorial office, and in the nature of the presentation, designed not for readers who understand at a glance, belonging to a certain closed circle, but for a wider, “democratic” reading mass manifests the ideology and interests of the bourgeoisie in the era of the heyday of industrial capitalism.
Russian M. l. XIX century Along with the secular and literary notes of Smirnova and Kern, he gives family and political memoirs of the Decembrists and people close to them (notes of M. A. Bestuzhev and others). The nature of these memoirs is connected - in the first group - with the noble character of Russian literature of the early 19th century. and - in the second group - with the noble-bourgeois nature of the December uprising. The mood of the revolutionary-democratic intelligentsia at the end of the 19th century. manifest themselves with the greatest strength and completeness in the memoirs of Kropotkin, Morozov, Vera Figner, M. Frolenko and a number of others.
Soviet literature, critically using the best traditions of revolutionary memoirs, sharpens their agitation and organizing role. At the same time, in connection with the increasing interest in revolutionary and generally “social” topics, a curious feature is observed in the very process of creating memoirs: memories are now often written down from the words of peasants or workers who do not have special literary skills and aspirations, and sometimes are completely illiterate, but keep I have a lot in my memory that may be of interest to the Soviet reader. For example, it is built on such records. The book “The Serf Grandmother” by T. Ferapontova, published by Guise in 1926, contains a retelling of the true memories of the peasant woman M. I. Volkova about the times of serfdom. Recently, special expeditions have even begun to be organized for the purpose of such records (recordings of the memories of Ural workers about the October Revolution, made by S.I. Mirer and V. Borovik (“Revolution”, 1931), the story of the old collective farmer Vasyunkina about her life, recorded by R S. Lipets, etc.).
Typological differentiation of M. l. must be produced not only in a vertical, but also in a horizontal sense, that is, not only in connection with the historical change of social formations and the dominance of various classes, but also in connection with their existence and struggle in the same era. It is enough, as an example, to contrast Remarque’s book of military memoirs “All Quiet in the West” and Furmanov’s combat memoirs in his books “Chapaev”, “Mutiny”. In the first case, we have before us a petty-bourgeois pacifist writer serving the class interests of the bourgeoisie, in the second we have before us a proletarian writer and revolutionary fighter who knows how to reveal the social meaning of individual military episodes and not only shows the way out, but also agitates for it.
In conclusion, it is necessary to once again strongly emphasize the enormous political role of memoirs. Very often, under the guise of an objective “chronicle of events,” a memoirist defends an incorrect, harmful belief system. Such, for example, are the well-known memoirs about the February Revolution by A. Shlyapnikov, which interpret the history of the revolution in a Menshevik and anarcho-syndicalist manner, etc. Political memoirs represent a naked weapon of the class struggle. This requires increased vigilance in this area. Bibliography:
Pekarsky P., Russian memoirs of the 18th century, Sovremennik, 1855, No. 4, 5, 8; Gennadi G., Notes (memoirs) of Russian people, Bibliographical instructions, “Readings in Imp. about history and ancient history. Russian at Moscow univers.", 1861, book. IV; Pylyaev M.I., List of the most important memoirs and notes left by Russian writers and public figures and still not made public, “Historical Bulletin”, 1890, I; Chechulin N., Memoirs, their significance and place among historical sources, St. Petersburg, 1891; Mintslov S. R., Review of notes, diaries, memoirs, letters and travels related to the history of Russia and printed in Russian. lang., vol. I, II-III, IV-V, Novgorod, 1911-1912.
Memoirs are a wonderful occasion to tell descendants about the true events of your time. This is an analysis of one’s own personality, identifying the cause-and-effect relationships of life. The emotional richness of the narrative will help you penetrate the spirit of the era and understand the essence of the author’s thoughts. Significant life experiences make memoirs an invaluable example for future generations.
Origin of the word
The word "memoir" comes from the French memoires, which translates as "memoirs." This word first appears in 1896. " Encyclopedic Dictionary"F.A. Brockhaus and I.E. Efron talks about the genres of memoir literature.
With the advent of writing, people found it interesting to write down their thoughts and take notes about events. Memoirs emerged as a genre in the 16th-17th centuries, when awareness of the uniqueness of each human personality came. The value of the author's thought became the impetus for writing a literary confession. People conveyed the flavor of time through their personal opinions.
Who wrote the memoirs?
The memoirs of generals and famous politicians are of particular value. They help to reproduce the arena of battles or court life, diplomatic intrigues, religious scandals are described in the essays of Marguerite de Valois, Duke de Rohan, La Rochefoucauld, Louis de Condé. Even executioners in the 16th century wrote memoirs.
During the Napoleonic era, almost all generals and those close to the emperor left behind interesting literary notes.
Russian memoirs begin their narrative from the Time of Troubles. They represent the usual chronology of events. Under Peter I, a massive surge in documentary notes was caused by the confrontation between Peter and Princess Sophia. Later military campaigns and the capture of cities were described by the tsar’s contemporaries.
Under Catherine II, memoirs acquired a clear structure. They describe the mores of the time, political disagreements, and social characteristics.
In our time, literary confession has become an important part of famous people. Actors, military men, politicians, diplomats, doctors, and mediums are trying to leave a mark on literary creativity. G. Ford, A. Christie, D. Rockefeller, M. Gorbachev, G. Vishnevskaya, M. Vladi - descriptions of life, events, interesting meetings and reflections can absorb the genre of memoirs.
Why do they write memoirs?
For famous people literary confession is an occasion to talk about fascinating or significant events, fateful meetings. Some are trying to describe their difficult path, some are trying to justify themselves, some are trying to earn money for a comfortable old age.
Most often, memoirs are written in order to relive one’s youth, remember its important milestones, funny or sad moments.
from French mEmoires - memories), literary narrative of a participant in social, political, literary artistic life about events witnessed or actor whom he was, about the people with whom he came into contact. Memoirs are a type of documentary literature and at the same time one of the types of confessional prose (autobiography, confession), adjacent to historical prose, essay, biography. Memoirs can contain the memories of an ordinary person about his “ordinary” life, conveying the flavor of a certain era, thoughts, feelings, attitudes and expectations of “average” people of a particular time, of a particular social, age, psychophysiological or age status. In this regard, memoirs belong to genres bordering between literature proper and everyday letters and diaries not intended for publication.
The origin of memoirs is associated with the memoirs of Xenophon (c. 445 - c. 355 BC) about Socrates and the “Notes on the Gallic War” of Julius Caesar (100 or 102–44 BC). In further literature, the following stand out: “The History of My Disasters” (1132–36) by P. Abelard, “New Life” (1292) by Dante, “Poetry and Truth from My Life” (1811–33) by J. V. Goethe, “Confession” ( 1766–69) J. J. Rousseau, “Ten Years in Exile” (unfinished, published in 1821) J. de Stael; in Russian literature - “The Past and Thoughts” (1855–68) by A. I. Herzen, “Captured Work” (1921–22) by V. N. Figner, “People, Years, Life” (1961–65) by I. G. Erenburg, V. P. Kataev’s trilogy “Holy Well” (1966), “The Grass of Oblivion” (1967), “My Diamond Crown” (1978); “On the Banks of the Neva” (1967) and “On the Banks of the Seine” (1983) by I. V. Odoevtseva, “Through the Eyes of a Man of My Generation” (published 1988) by K. M. Simonov, “A Calf Butted an Oak Tree” (1990) A . I. Solzhenitsyn. A special place among the memoirs is occupied by notes and memoirs of prominent statesmen, including the Russian Empress Catherine II, the head of the English government during World War II, W. Churchill. Stable features of the genre: factuality, eventfulness, retrospectiveness, immediacy of the author's judgments, picturesqueness, documentary. An indispensable property of memoirs is their subjectivity in the selection of facts, in their coverage and evaluation; A common method of artistic characterization is a portrait. Memoirs are an irreplaceable source of information about the events of the past, tastes, morals, customs, a system of aesthetic and spiritual values, and an important tool for literary, socio-historical and cultural studies. Memoirs in their “pure” form can be identified with works of fiction of a memoir nature (“Pedagogical Poem”, 1933–1936, A. S. Makarenko), often with “encrypted” characters (“My Diamond Crown” by V. P. Kataev). There are well-known hoax memoirs (the fake “diary” of the lady-in-waiting of the last Russian Empress A. A. Vyrubova). In the 20th–21st centuries. memoirs in the form of memoirs, sketches, fictional dialogues, polemics " retroactively", diary entries, etc. - one of the most relevant genres. In Russia, this is the so-called “camp” literature, which carries not only the truth about the tragic pages of modern Russian history, but also a powerful charge of social and political exposure: “Steep Route” (1967–80) by E. S. Ginzburg, “The Gulag Archipelago” ( 1973) A. I. Solzhenitsyn, “Plunge into Darkness” (1987) O. N. Volkova, “ Kolyma stories"(1954–73) V. T. Shalamova and others. Memoirs include collective collections of memories, united either by the community of authors (profession, age, nationality, biography, ideological, artistic and aesthetic affinity), or by the object of memories (memories of contemporaries about A . S. Pushkin, memoirs of participants in the literary movement of imagism).
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MEMOIRS
historical (French m?moires, from Latin memoria - memory) - the author’s memories of the historical. events in which he was a participant or eyewitness, one of the types of historical sources. There are no clear lines separating M. from other types of sources of personal origin (sometimes, along with memoirs, diaries, autobiographies, etc. are also included in the circle of M.). Dept. works like M. were created already in antiquity. These are, in particular, “Anabasis” by Xenophon (Russian translation, M.-L., 1951) - about the campaign of 10 thousand Greeks in Mesopotamia in 401 BC. e. and “Notes on the Gallic War” by Julius Caesar (Russian translation, M.-L., 1948). In the Middle Ages, M. wrote ch. arr. representatives of the feudal class, courtiers. Such are, for example, “The Conquest of Constantinople” by J. de Villehardouin (G. Villehardouin, L´histoire de la conqu?te de Constantinople, P., 1584) - an epically calm story about the 4th crusade of one of its leaders; “The History of Saint Louis” by J. Joinville (J. Joinville, L´histoire et chronique du tr?s-chr?stien roy Saint Louis, P., 1547) - a colorful picture of the life and customs of the era of Louis IX; "Chronicles" by J. Froissart (J. Froissart, Chroniques, P., 1869-99), reflecting the events of the 14th century. - 100 Years' War, Jacquerie, W. Tyler's rebellion; “Chronicle and History” by F. de Commines (Ph. de Commines, Chronique et istoire... durant le r?gne du roi Louis XI, P., 1524), imbued with ideas of exalting the power of Louis XI (2nd half of 15 V.). Standing somewhat apart are M. Pierre Abelard ("The History of My Disasters", Russian translation, 1959), which shows the persecution of Catholic freethinking. 12th century church But already from the Renaissance, new themes invaded M., interest in the surrounding world, in people, grew. personalities, more and more townspeople, merchants, including travelers are appearing among memoirists (see the article “Travel”). In M., a prominent figure of the Huguenots T. A. d'Aubigne, "Tragic Poems. Memoirs" (R., 1616; in Russian translation, M., 1949) the era of religious wars comes to life; B. Cellini in his autobiography “The Life of Benvenuto, son of maestro Giovanni Cellini...” (Naples, 1728; Russian translation, M., 1931) vividly depicts the morals of Italy in the 16th century. By the 16th century There are also such examples of Russian M. as “The History of the Grand Duke of Moscow” (St. Petersburg, 1913) by Prince A. M. Kurbsky, where the events of the time of Ivan the Terrible are recreated, “The Life of Archpriest Avvakum, written by himself” (St. Petersburg, 1861), colorful ideologist of the Old Believers. Examples of M. countries of the East 15-16 centuries. may serve as the memoirs of Z. M. Vasifi, the courtier of the Timurids (Khorasan) Badai al-vaqai (vol. 1-2, M., 1961), expressing the ideas of the mountains. feudal opposition power, M. ruler of the Great Mughals Babur (Russian translation "Babur-name", Tashkent, 1948). 17-18 centuries - the heyday of memoirs, especially in France. The following French masterpieces date back to this time. literature, such as M. Duke J. F. de Retz (J. Fr. Retz, M?moires, P., 1717) and M. Duke L. Saint-Simon (v. 1-21, P., 1829-30 ; Russian translation, vol. 1-2, M.-L., 1934-36). Major social upheavals cause a flow of M., in which representatives of the main. fighting factions assess events from their class positions: M. of O. Cromwell’s associate T. Fairfax (Th. Fairfax, Memoirs of the reign of Charles the First, v. 1-2, L., 1848), T. Jefferson (Th. . Jefferson, Memoirs, correspondence and private papers, v. 1-4, L., 1829), the prominent Girondist Madame M. J. Roland (M?moires, v. 1-2, P., 1820), French military organizer bourgeois revolutions of the 18th century L. Carnot (L. Carnot, M?moires, v. 1-2, P., 1861-64), “Memoirs” of the diplomat Prince Talleyrand (v. 1-5, R., 1891-92; Russian translation. , M.-L., 1934) and many others. etc. Almost all of Napoleon I’s associates left apologetics about him. memories. Among the works of the 18th century, written in Russia, “Notes of Catherine II” (St. Petersburg, 1906), as well as “The Life and Adventures of Andrei Bolotov...” (vol. 1-4, St. Petersburg, 1871-73), stand out. there are vivid pictures of the life of the nobility, the events of the Seven Years' War and the uprising of E. Pugachev. In the 19th - early 20th centuries. due to rapid socio-economic changes, the growth of education, the composition of memoirists is democratizing, personal moments in memoirs are increasingly fading into the background or are closely intertwined with public moments. M. are increasingly acquiring a political character. Many M. revolutionaries appear, for example. “My Memoirs” by G. Garibaldi (R., 1860; Russian translation, M., 1931), the leader of German Social Democracy A. Bebel “From my life” (Bd 1-3, V., 1910-14; Russian translation, M., 1963). Among Russian M. 19th century. A large group of M. Decembrists stands out. Among them are “Russia and the Russians” by N. I. Turgenev (vol. 1-2, St. Petersburg, 1907-08), “Notes” of Prince S. P. Trubetskoy (St. Petersburg, 1906). Exceptions occupy a special place. Valuable for its broad themes and richness of content, “The Past and Thoughts” by A. I. Herzen (vol. 1-4, London, 1861-67). Since the middle of the century, M. torg appeared. bourgeoisie, commoners, and later workers and peasants. Valuable information about the organization and activities of the populists is contained in the M. Narodovoltsev V. N. Figner (“Sealed Labor,” vol. 1-2, M., 1921-22) and O. V. Aptekman (“From the history of revolutionary populism “Earth” and will" of the 70s. ", Rostov n/d., 1907). The first memoirs of workers include "Memoirs" of the leader of the Morozov strike P. A. Moiseenko (M., 1924) and the memoirs of V. Gerasimov (first published in the magazine "Byloe" , 1906, No. 6). The composition of memoirists and the themes of memoirs in Russia after October were fundamentally changed. The authors of memoirs were primarily figures of the revolutionary movement, recreating the course of the heroic struggle against tsarism and the bourgeois system. revolution (memoirs of V. Antonov-Ovseenko “In the Seventeenth Year”, M., 1933; book by the American communist J. Reed “Ten Days that Shook the World” (N.Y., 1919; Russian translation, M., 1923) ; in M., its participants vividly depicted the civil war ("Civil War 1918-1921", vol. 1-3, M., 1928-30, and many others. Since 1924, many memoirs about V.I. have been published. Lenin. In the atmosphere of the cult of Stalin’s personality, their publication almost ceased. After 1956, a new rise in memoirs began, in which memories of Lenin occupy a prominent place (collection. "Memories of V.I. Lenin", parts 1-3, M., 1956-60, etc.), about Vel. Patriotic War (by the end of 1965, more than 100 books on this topic were published in the USSR alone in the “War Memoirs” series). The composition of memoirists and the themes of their books changed sharply in other countries with the victory of socialism there. revolutions. In foreign socialist countries of M. are devoted to a significant extent to revolution. struggle in modern times, anti-fascist. movement, socialist transformations, etc. These are M. bolg. partisans ("Botevtsi", Sofia, 1959), M. state. Hungarian figure I. Dobi “Memories and History” (Dobi I., Vallom?s es t?rt?nelem, k?t. 1-2, Bdpst, 1962), collective M. about the formation of the GDR “We are strength” ( "Wir sind die Kraft", V., 1959), etc. With the growth of the national liberation movement in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latvia. America, M. leaders of this movement appear, many of whom later became political. figures liberated from imperialism. oppression of countries: M.K. Gandhi, My Life (v. 1-2, Ahmadabad, 1927-29; Russian translation, M., 1959), J. Nehru, Autobiography (L., 1930; Russian translation. , M., 1955); K. Nkrumah, Autobiography (L., 1957; Russian translation, M., 1961) and others. M. many bourgeois. state, political and other figures of the 20th century. distinguished, among many other class features, by an anti-Soviet orientation, for example, W. Churchill’s memoirs “The World Crisis” (v. 1-6, R., 1923-31; Russian translation, M.-L., 1932), R. . Poincaré “In the Service of France... Memoirs 1914-1918” (v. 1-10, R., 1926-33; Russian translation, vol. 1-2, M., 1936), G. Hoover (N. Hoover, Memoirs, v. 1-3, N.Y., 1952). At the same time, more and more M. worker veterans are appearing and will be released. capitalist movements countries (T. Mann, Memoirs, translated from English, M.-L., 1924; M. Thorez, Son of the People, translated from French, M., 1950; S. Katayama, Memoirs, translated from Japanese ., M., 1964; M. Chilean communist E. Laferte, Life of a Communist, trans. from Spanish, M., 1961, and many others). M. are a document of the era of their creation. They are often used as a political tool. and ideological struggle, and are often written for purely practical and even selfish purposes of the author. Sometimes one of the main purposes of writing M. is to settle scores with one’s politicians. opponents. These are, for example, to a certain extent the M. of the Tsar's Minister S. Yu. Witte ("Memoirs", vol. 1-3, M.-P., 1923-24). Other M. authors exaggerate their role in events or present their actions in a light favorable to themselves. Yes, tour. state the figure Dzhemal Pasha in his “Notes” (Russian translation, Tiflis, 1923) seeks to absolve himself of responsibility for the policies of the Young Turks in 1914-18. Many M. political. figures have a pronounced character of self-praise or apologetics (for example. , M. Napoleon). In a number of cases, memoirists deliberately suppress important facts. For example, Talleyrand, who wrote his M. during the Bourbon restoration, kept silent about his participation in the activities of the Establishment. revolutionary meetings France at the end of the 18th century. Despite the variety of specific tasks and goals of memoirists, their works are united by the fact that, unlike other sources of personal origin, they are written, as a rule, after the memoirists find themselves outside the environment associated with the events depicted in M. Observations and impressions of eyewitnesses in M. are often adjusted under the influence of the author’s new interests and other circumstances. The characteristic features of M. are: subjectivity, determined by the social or political positions of the authors, as well as the limitations of their individual experience, and the retrospective nature of the presentation of facts. Memoir’s specific primary source is memory (however, along with it, memoirists often use a variety of documentation, diaries, letters, the press, etc.). M., like any other sources, are used by historians only after careful source criticism. The purpose of the latter is to determine the degree of reliability and completeness of the content of the materials, taking into account all variants of their text and data from a comparison of the studies under study with those of other authors on similar or related topics. In this case, the analysis of authorship, in particular social status and biographical background, plays a primary role. data from the memoirists, their worldview, the degree of participation in the events covered, and specific goals when writing memoirs. For all their peculiarities and certain uncertainty of the boundaries of the genre, memoirs are extremely valuable historical. source. Reflecting the past in its specificity, memoirs contain a wealth of material for studying the psychology and life of society as a whole, as well as individual societies. groups. Thanks to M. the historical can be recreated. the background against which events unfolded, the atmosphere and flavor of a particular era, the logic of people’s behavior is clarified. Sometimes in M. you can find unpublished or unknown documents, letters, etc. in whole or in fragments. In a number of cases, M. is the only or main source of our knowledge about individual segments of history, about past events or their individual aspects. The literary portraits of people who played an outstanding role in history are of considerable value. B means. Thanks to M., students and associates of Marx, Engels, and Lenin, living images of the founders of Marxism-Leninism were preserved for history. Bibliographies and collections of M. : Memories of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Annotated index of books and journal articles 1954-1961, M., 1963 (compiled by F. N. Kudryavtsev); Mintslov S.R., Review of notes, diaries, memoirs, letters and travels related to the history of Russia and printed in Russian. language, c. 1-5, Novgorod, 1911-12; History of Soviet society in the memoirs of contemporaries, 1917-1957. Annotated index of memoir literature, part 1, M., 1958; the same, part 2, c. 1, Journal publications 1917-1927, M., 1961; Index of memoirs, diaries and travel notes of the 18th-19th centuries, M., 1951; Collection des m?moires relatifs a la R?volution d´Angleterre, publ... par F. P. G. Guizot, t. 1-25, P., 1823-25; Collection des m?moires r?latifs a la R?volution fran?aise... publ. par S. A. Berville et J. F. Barri?re, v. 1-68, P., 1820-28; Biblioth?que des m?moires relatifs a l´histoire de France pendant le XVIII si?cle, ?d. Barri?re F. et A. de Lescure, v. 1-28, P., 1846-66; the same, Nouvelle série avec introductions, notices et notes par M. de Lescure, v. 29-37, P., 1875-81; Collection des mémoires relatifs a l´histoire de France... jusqu´au XIII si?cle, publ... par F. Guizot, v. 1-30, P., 1823-35; Nouvelle collection des m?moires sur l´histoire de France... jusqu´a la fin du XVIII si?cle..., ?d. J.-F. Michaud et J. J. F. Poujoulat, pt. 1-34, P., 1836-39; Westphal M., Die besten deutschen Memoiren aus 7 Jahrhunderten, Lpz., 1923. Lit.: Cardin V., Today about yesterday. Memoirs and modernity, M., 1961 (popular science book); Chernomorsky M.N., Memoirs as historical source, M., 1959 (Soviet period of the history of the USSR); Derevnina L.I., On the term “memoirs” and the classification of memoir sources (historiography of the issue). - "Issues of archival science", 1963, No. 4; Caboche Ch., Les m?moires et l'histoire en France, t. 1-2, P., 1863; Wolf G., Einf?hrung in das Studium der neueren Geschichte, V., 1910, S. 324 404. I. Ya. Bisk. Tambov.
Memoirs
Memoirs
(from the French mémoires - memories), a literary narrative by a participant in social, political, literary and artistic life about events that he witnessed or was an actor in, about the people with whom he came into contact. Memoirs are a type of documentary literature and at the same time one of the types of confessional prose (autobiography, confession), adjacent to historical prose, essay, biography. Memoirs can contain the memories of an ordinary person about his “ordinary” life, conveying the flavor of a certain era, thoughts, feelings, attitudes and expectations of “average” people of a particular time, of a particular social, age, psychophysiological or age status. In this regard, memoirs belong to genres bordering between literature proper and everyday letters and diaries not intended for publication.
The origin of memoirs is associated with the memoirs of Xenophon (c. 445 - c. 355 BC) about Socrates and the “Notes on the Gallic War” of Julius Caesar (100 or 102-44 BC). In further literature, “The History of My Disasters” (1132–36) by P. stands out. Abelard, "New Life" (1292) Dante, “Poetry and truth from my life” (1811-33) I.V. Goethe, “Confession” (1766-69) J. J. Rousseau, “Ten Years in Exile” (unfinished, published in 1821) J. de Stael; in Russian literature - “The Past and Thoughts” (1855-68) by A.I. Herzen, “Captured Work” (1921-22) V. N. Figner, “People, Years, Life” (1961-65) I. G. Ehrenburg, trilogy by V.P. Kataeva“Holy Well” (1966), “The Grass of Oblivion” (1967), “My Diamond Crown” (1978); “On the Banks of the Neva” (1967) and “On the Banks of the Seine” (1983) by I. V. Odoevtseva, “Through the Eyes of a Man of My Generation” (published 1988) by K. M. Simonova, “A calf butted with an oak tree” (1990) A.I. Solzhenitsyn. A special place among the memoirs is occupied by notes and memoirs of prominent statesmen, including the Russian Empress Catherine II, the head of the English government during World War II, W. Churchill. Stable features of the genre: factuality, eventfulness, retrospectiveness, immediacy of the author's judgments, picturesqueness, documentary. An indispensable property of memoirs is their subjectivity in the selection of facts, in their coverage and evaluation; A common method of artistic characterization is a portrait. Memoirs are an irreplaceable source of information about the events of the past, tastes, morals, customs, a system of aesthetic and spiritual values, and an important tool for literary, socio-historical and cultural studies. Memoirs in their “pure” form can be identified with works of fiction of a memoir nature (“Pedagogical Poem”, 1933–1936, A.S. Makarenko), often with “encrypted” characters (“My Diamond Crown” by V.P. Kataev). There are known hoax memoirs (the fake “diary” of the lady-in-waiting of the last Russian Empress A. A. Vyrubova). In the 20th–21st centuries. memoirs in the form of memoirs, sketches, fictional dialogues, polemics “retroactively”, diary entries, etc. are one of the most relevant genres. In Russia, this is the so-called “camp” literature, which carries not only the truth about the tragic pages of modern Russian history, but also a powerful charge of social and political exposure: “Steep Route” (1967-80) by E. S. Ginzburg, “The Gulag Archipelago” ( 1973) A. I. Solzhenitsyn, “Plunge into Darkness” (1987) O. N. Volkova, “Kolyma Stories” (1954-73) V. T. Shalamova and others. Memoirs include collective collections of memories, united either by the commonality of the authors (profession, age, nationality, biography, ideological, artistic and aesthetic affinity), or by the object of the memories (memories of contemporaries about A.S. Pushkin, memories of participants in the literary movement imagism).
Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Edited by prof. Gorkina A.P. 2006 .
Memoirs
MEMOIRS- fr. word, notes from contemporaries about memorable events in which they took direct personal part, or known to them from eyewitnesses. As historical materials and documents, notes have more or less significant value based on the significance of the events described, the accuracy, reliability, detail and picturesqueness of the information reported, and depending on the personal characteristics of the author of the notes. Very often memoirs shed light on the personality of their compiler. Representing a living combination of everyday real details of living life with material of scientific significance, memoirs have long been one of the favorite departments of historical reading, and more than once memoirs have been published with the names of prominent persons that turned out to be forged. Classical antiquity knows Xenophon’s wonderful memoirs about Socrates and the author’s notes about his Asia Minor campaign (Anabasis) and Julius Caesar’s notes about the war in Gaul, which in form are an imitation of Xenophon, but drier. In some historical literature From different countries we find an immense amount of memoirs, starting from the Middle Ages, and private notes often shed light on entire eras that are not sufficiently illuminated by other materials. There is an extensive bibliographical work on Russian memoirs by S. R. Mintslov, “Review of notes, diaries, “memoirs,” Novgorod, 1911-12, 5 issues. See Memories.
V.Ch. Literary encyclopedia: Dictionary of literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel, 1925
Synonyms:
See what “memoirs” are in other dictionaries:
- (French, from memoire memory). 1) notes from an eyewitness about the events. 2) notes of learned societies. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. MEMOIRS notes from contemporaries about events and persons of historical significance... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Cm … Dictionary of synonyms
Memoirs- MEMOIRS fr. word, notes from contemporaries about memorable events in which they took direct personal part, or known to them from eyewitnesses. As historical materials and documents, notes have more or less significant... ... Dictionary of literary terms
memoirs- ov, plural mémoire m. memory. 1. unit and many more Essay, article. As for the sent... memoirs about the artillery of M. de Remy, I will refer to the fact that I already reported about this the other day. 1731. Tatishchev to Schumacher. // T. Zap. 148. Dissertation on... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language
memoirs- MEMOIRS, autobiography, memories, notes... Dictionary-thesaurus of synonyms of Russian speech
- (French memoires memories), a type of documentary literature, a literary narrative by a participant in social, literary, artistic life about events and people of whom he was a contemporary... Modern encyclopedia
- (French memoires memories) a type of documentary literature, a literary narrative by a participant in social, literary, artistic life about events and people of whom he was a contemporary. Wed. autobiography... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
- (write, read) memories. Wed. I recently read this in the memoirs of a poet. Boborykin. Corpse. 2. Wed. Mémoire (memoria) memory, notes, memorial record. Wed. Memini, I remember... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)
MEMOIRS, memoirs, units. no, husband (French mémoires). 1. Literary work in the form of notes about past events in which the author was a contemporary or participant (lit.). 2. One of the names of printed works of scientific institutions (obsolete). Intelligent... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary