Ben Yagoda and Dan DeLorenzo have contributed to the Nieman Storyboard an interesting post on the ethical and factual requirements and obligations of a memoir. They recognize that the model has come under some siege in recent years and set out an itemized list of objectives.
"Inaccuracy is a problem in a memoir based on the extent to which it gets details as well as larger truths demonstrably wrong, depicts identifiable people in a negative light, fails to recognize the limits of memory, is poorly written, is self-serving, or otherwise wears its agenda on its sleeve<" they write. "The more of these things it does and the more egregiously it does them, the bigger the problem is."
Yagoda, a professor, and DeLorenzo, a journalist, take the model, give it 100 points, then add or deduct points for each quality it features (or doesn't): accuracy, self-service, self-deprecation, and so on. They test some memoirs against their ratings system.
"Inaccuracy is a problem in a memoir based on the extent to which it gets details as well as larger truths demonstrably wrong, depicts identifiable people in a negative light, fails to recognize the limits of memory, is poorly written, is self-serving, or otherwise wears its agenda on its sleeve<" they write. "The more of these things it does and the more egregiously it does them, the bigger the problem is."
Yagoda, a professor, and DeLorenzo, a journalist, take the model, give it 100 points, then add or deduct points for each quality it features (or doesn't): accuracy, self-service, self-deprecation, and so on. They test some memoirs against their ratings system.
