From explorations of St. Teresa of Avila and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, to George Sand, W. E. B. Du Bois, Virginia Woolf, and Frank McCourt, author and scholar Jill Ker Conway writes an in-depth investigation of memoir writing, tracing its evolution and shedding light on how autobiographical storytelling reflects cultural context and is shaped by social forces, such as gender roles. “Can anyone be both subject and object of the same sentences—the speaker and the subject spoken about?” asks Conway. Throughout the chapters in this book, Conway presents memoir as a powerful form that fosters understanding—illuminating perceptions of the past and providing instructions and insights for the future.
