Another Packet that Makes You Think, Arrrg

Since I just read Memory and Imagination, I’ll reflect on that. The most interesting aspect of this whole piece is the idea of “lies” in a memoir and letting the true story in what you have to say finding themselves. Whether or not you realized it at the time, or even as you’re writing it, there is an underlying theme or idea in your memory. This uncharted region of your experience can be tapped into through the lies and details that begin to present themselves in your thoughts and reflections. Hampl found the focus of her father through the tendency of her old friend to continually turn up in a memory where she wasn’t even present. These small inconsistencies and blends of time and place begin to form and shape what was really important to you then and now. Although unlike her metaphor of writing being like an old friend, I think of it as an unexplored space. You must first chart out what you’ve got and take note of what you want and don’t want. At this point you may begin to weed and cut it back into the shape and finally form you desire. It just takes that original foresight through all of the tangle and mess you began with to see the end result you could have. You just have to unearth it.