“How did I come to believe that what I knew was also what
mattered? And, more to the point for the future, is it what matters?” Patricia Hampl
In her book, I Could
tell You Stories, Hampl explores the realm of memory in auto-biographical writing
connected by the impulse to remember. She pointed out that both Kafka and Rilke
saw memory, “not experience”, as
holding the sovereign position in imagination.
For herself Hampl discovered: “The recognition of one’s genuine material seems to involve a fall from
the phony grace of good intentions and elevated expectations.” Although she
shares via the route of memoir, this door of recognition applies to all forms
of writing. If we are unable to infuse our memories, or perhaps our search for our
memories into our work then we rob it of honest quest and discovery and an
imagination that connects. Each person’s voice is unique and bears witness to
life. But in order to share, we first need to identify what really matters to
us.
“We store in memory
only images of value.”
Journal Prompt:
1.
Choose a first memory of an experience you’ve
had twice and write each up as an autobiographical event. For example, the very
first day you went to school and then the very first day you went to school in
high school, or college.
2.
Or perhaps choose an area in which you became
accomplished. The first day you swam in a pool and the first time you swam in a
race.
Share: What
emotions rose to the surface? Were there similar ones in both vignettes?
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