As writers go, I have a skin of average thickness. I am pleased by a good review, disappointed by a bad. None of it penetrates far enough to influence the thing I write next.
Rachel CuskRead
In memoir, you have to be particularly careful not to alienate the reader by making the material seem too lived-in. It mustn't have too much of the smell of yourself, otherwise the reader will be unable to make it her own.
Interpretation
What this quote means
In writing memoirs, it's important to balance personal experience with relatability for the reader.
Rachel Cusk emphasizes the need for memoir writers to present their experiences in a way that resonates with readers rather than overwhelming them with personal details. If the narrative is too saturated with the author's own life, it risks becoming inaccessible or alienating, thus preventing the reader from connecting with or interpreting the story in their own way.
Themes
MemoirWritingReaderPersonalExperience
In practice
Example use cases
An author discussing their memoir during a book signing.
More from Rachel Cusk
All quotes →There is always shame in the creation of an expressive work, whether it's a book or a clay pot. Every artist worries about how they will be seen by others through their work. When you create, you aspire to do justice to yourself, to remake yourself, and there is always the fear that you will expose the very thing that you hoped to transform.
Rachel CuskRead
Shame is something you'll find a lot of - particularly Catholic - girls feel about their bodies, about their sexuality, about their diet, about anything you like. Shame is the way you keep them down. That's the way to crush a girl.
Rachel CuskRead
I have no sense of a model or predecessor when I write a memoir: For me, the form exists as a method of processing material that retains too many connections to life to be approached strictly and aesthetically. A memoir is a risk, a one-off, a bastard child.
Rachel CuskRead
It seems to me that 'women's writing' by nature would not seek equivalence in the male world. It would be a writing that sought to express a distinction, not deny it.
Rachel CuskRead
We who were born were not witnesses to our birth: like death, it is something we are forever after trying to catch sight of.
Rachel CuskRead
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