Judith Barrington
Quote
One last characteristic of the memoir that is important to recognize is one which also applies to essays, and which Georg Lukacs described as "the process of judging." This may seem problematic to some, since... we connect it with 'judgmental,' often used nowadays as a derogatory word. But the kind of judgment necessary to the good personal essay, or to the memoir, is not that nasty tendency to oversimplify and dismiss other people out of hand but rather the willingness to form and express complex opinions, both positive and negative. If the charm of memoir is that we, the readers, see the author struggling to understand her past, then we must also see the author trying out opinions she may later shoot down, only to try out others as she takes a position about the meaning of her story. The memoirist need not necessarily know what she thinks about her subject but she must be trying to find out; she may never arrive at a definitive verdict, but she must be willing to share her intellectual and emotional quest for answers. Without this attempt to make a judgment, the voice lacks interest, the stories, becalmed in the doldrums of neutrality, become neither fiction nor memoir, and the reader loses respect for the writer who claims the privilege of being the hero in her own story without meeting her responsibility to pursue meaning. Self revelation without analysis or understanding becomes merely an embarrassment to both reader and writer.
Related Quotes
Similar Crossword Answers
| Answer | Clues |
|---|---|
| FEAR | 467 clues |
| EARTH | 412 clues |
| DREAM | 370 clues |
| AUTHORITY | 242 clues |
| FACTS | 204 clues |
| NATURE | 180 clues |
| DEVELOPMENT | 116 clues |
| BURDEN | 102 clues |
| ANIMALS | 92 clues |
| MEMOIR | 90 clues |
| REVOLUTION | 40 clues |
| NATURALIST | 11 clues |
| SOCIALISM | 10 clues |
| COMMUNISM | 7 clues |
Similar crossword clues
- Judith Anderson. 68.75%
- Judith or Marian. 66.67%
- JUDITH, husband of 64.71%
- JUDITH, battle site of 63.16%
- Judith Martin's alter ego 61.90%
- Judith Blegen offering 61.54%
- Judith Anderson, e.g. 61.11%
- Judith Krantz novel 61.11%
- JUDITH, victim of 60.61%
- JUDITH, father of 60.61%
- Judith's husband 60.61%
- Judith Anderson, for one 60.00%
- Judith Weir composition 60.00%
- Judith Anderson role 59.46%
- Judith Actress 58.06%
- Judith with two Tonys 57.89%
- Alias Judith Anderson. 57.89%
- Judith of "Brighton Beach Memoirs" 57.14%
- Judith of "Compromising Positions" 57.14%
- winner Judith Tony 57.14%
Related word tools
Poet’s word, with inverted comma, for the end of the day
?
E
?
E
?
N
Hint 1 meaning
The old plural of Eye.
Hint 2 anagram
NEE
Hint 3 another clue
AND STILL ___
10 +1