The NYTimes addiction continues

"Misery Loves a Memoir"

Once again, admitting my off-and-on Times-junkie tendency, I wanted to post this interesting article. It got me to to thinking about a few random (and selfish) things. Benjamin Kunkel raises some points about the state of memoir writing. I agree that suffering (and dysfunction) are prevalent themes, and at the same time, comforting to the reader. I don't quite understand his final point, in the last paragraph, although I've tried to wrap my head around it with a couple re-readings. Can the memoir, or writing autobiographically, not be some sort of confession about the struggles of the past and the aftermath? Isn't that what makes for conflict, tension and overall engaged reading? I want to learn about Thoreau. I plan on reading "Walden" now, hopefully this week. Above all, I hope I can write without invoking some sort of past suffering. Or not use it as the crutch, at least.