Comments on: Reflections on Native American Novelist Leslie Marmon Silko

By: Faith Colburn

Faith Colburn — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 00:12:37 +0000

Yes, I do believe such works as those of Leslie Marmon Silko constitute memoir of a sort. I can’t possibly claim the talent or the reach of a Silko, but I find myself writing a novel based upon characters I wrote about in my memoir. While the memoir is factually true as I know the facts, I’ve begun to feel that the more fully-fleshed characters of the novel will tell a larger truth about those characters in the end.

By: KB Schaller

KB Schaller — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:07:27 +0000

Terry,

Thank you for your comment. It is indeed a fine line (sometimes) between the autobio and the memoir. Both can be saturated with emotional and factual truths.

For those, like Silko, who have endured the pain of “walking in two worlds”, it can be especially difficult, in this author’s opinion, to treat the two as absolutes.

Will check out your memoir. Sounds interesting! In the 3rd novel in my Journey series (Journey Through the Night’s Door), linoleum plays a part in helping to establish the story’s mood.

By: Terry Helwig

Terry Helwig — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:23:12 +0000

K.B., I agree with you that, on some level, Silko’s works are like memoir. For me, one of the differences between memoir and autobiography is that memoir explores an author’s emotional as well as factual truth. I suspect the emotional truths of most writers also find their way into fiction. Nice essay. Thanks.

Terry Helwig,
Author of Moonlight on Linoleum: A Daughter’s Memoir
@TerryHelwig