Book Talk: History of memoirs finds scandal was not a given

By Belinda Goldsmith

CANBERRA (Reuters Life!) - In his memoir, Andre Agassi has admitted to using crystal meth. Irish hurling star Donal Og Cusack came out in his recent autobiography. Sarah Palin's autobiography became a best-seller before its release.

Dishing some dirt has become the recent trend in the memoirs that overflow bookstores with politicians, celebrities, people living an odd life for a year and even animals racing to share their lives with others.

Writer Ben Yagoda, a journalism professor from the University of Delaware who has just published "Memoir: A History," said such candor was not always the case in autobiographies but memoirs do reflect the cultural zeitgeist.

But Yagoda, the biographer of Will Rogers, told Reuters there is one thing about memoirs that has to stay constant for the genre to retain its power and popularity -- the truth.

Q: What is the fascination with memoirs?

A: "People are interested in themselves so it is not surprising people want to tell their own story. The move to put it in covers goes beyond talking at a dinner party. But the question why should readers who don't know us be interested in our story is the big question."

Q: Are there more memoirs coming out now?

A: "It seems there are multiple ones coming out every day. I have a Google news alert for the word memoir. But the subgenre that is not growing is that of politicians and celebrities. The A-list figures have already told their stories once or twice or three times. But it is in a large part a publishing marketing phenomenon. People write their memoir then get booked for talk show appearances. It all sounds very synergistic but in truth a lot of these books don't sell well."

Q: What does work? Sarah Palin's memoir, for instance, became a best-seller through advance sales.

A: "People are often not responding to the book. She is a person in whom people are interested so the memoir is a tangible. Who knows how many people who buy it will actually read it, but the book becomes a tangible way they can express their interest in that person. It is kind of an emblem of that person."

Q: Are celebrity memoirs new?

A: "No. In the 19th century prominent people and statesmen would write their memoirs. In the 1920s ghost written books about entertainers became a popular genre. But in those early days a memoir was expected to be a whitewashed, sanitized version of their life. Now there is an expectation of dishing some dirt and candor and gossip."

Q: Do you think this number of new memoirs will continue?

A: "I think it will continue but it will ebb and flow ... A few years ago the non-fiction lists were full of best-selling memoirs but that does not seem to be the case any more. I think the trend it subsiding. I think we have seen the end of animal memoirs. That has to be a niche market. In terms of these misery memoirs where people write about their terrible childhood, diseases and ailments, there really is not much more to tell. But the celebrity culture is so much a part of us that the genre is not going to disappear."

Q: Some memoirs have been unveiled as fabrications such as James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces." Does it matter?