Matching Authors to Their Books

I'm teaching Creative Non-Fiction again this semester, even though it is poorly named "Life Stories" by the humanities department. We just got done with Moveable Feast, and I have to say this group will definitely generate some good quotes for the semester.

My personal favorites so far: "I looked at pictures of Hemingway online, and he just didn't seem like the type to kill himself." This was quickly followed up with another student asking "It seemed like he really loved his wife, so why did he divorce her?"

They were questions I couldn't really answer--I referred to Hemingway's struggle with depression, his illnesses, earlier suicide attempts and two stays in hospitals. In terms of Hemingway's multiple marriages, the best I could offer was that he did love Hadley, but perhaps married too young, or simply was not 'husband material.' For me, I think part of the reason I enjoy memoir so much is because even as the author reveals aspects of him or herself, there are other parts left hidden, that subtext.

Since I'll be teaching On the Road directly after, I'm really excited to raise the ideas of how tone and construction are tied together. (And also the idea of self-editing for audience.) How will I write about the events of my life in 30 years differently than if I wrote about them tomorrow?

We'll see how it goes.