“Memory, in short, is engraved not merely by the life we have led but by the life of the mind…by all the lives we so nearly led but missed by an inch, and—if we grant enough leeway to the imagination—by the lives of others, which can cut into ours every bit as sharply as our own experience.” – Anthony Lane, writing about W.G. Sebald in The New Yorker (May 29, 2000)
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Category Archives: Memoir
On writing and war—voices of veterans
This morning, instead of heading out for a longed-for run in that quiet half hour between the kids’ departure for school and the forward rush of my day, I sat down to glance at the Times and got swallowed up … Continue reading
Memory—my mom’s story of motherhood & Joe Queenan on books (beautiful books)!
I want to share the wonderful review my mom (Joanne S. Frye) received this week from Literary Mama (great site for lovers of writing/reading) for her memoir Biting the Moon: A Memoir of Feminism and Motherhood. Check out the review … Continue reading
How shy are you? – Some thoughts on thoughtfulness
These past weeks I have been mulling over the need for solitude. Why do we need it? When do we need it? Does everyone need it? What do we even mean by solitude? What do I mean? Sometimes we stumble … Continue reading
Posted in Grief & grieving, Memoir, Memory, Motherhood, Suicide, Writing & Reading
Tagged dyslexia, Hanif Kureishi, introvert, Judith Warner, Memorial Day, parenting, reading, Ritalin, shyness, solitude, Susan Cain, writing
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Motherhood, divorce, public vitriol—(don’t) tell us more
There was much bustle over in the UK last month, in the pages of The Guardian, in particular, with Telegraph readers jumping in too, about the release of Rachel Cusk’s new memoir, Aftermath: On Marriage and Separation, which was excerpted … Continue reading
Posted in Memoir, Memory, Motherhood, Writing & Reading
Tagged Aftermath, Biting the Moon, divorce, feminism, gender roles, Joanne S. Frye, memoir, memories of books, motherhood, Pen Parentis, Rachel Cusk
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Lots of latkes…Oh, Christmas tree…oh, Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah
Happy holidays, everyone! I’ve been consumed again by domesticity over the written word the past few weeks. (Is this a bi-annual event?) But amidst the Thanksgiving feast and Hanukkah festivities and upcoming Christmas celebrations, I’ve been thinking a lot about … Continue reading
Tell me a story—about war
“While you were out last night, I saw a piece of paper, and it was very sad. And then it blew away,” my three-year-old reported the week before last. At first, I was not quite alarmed but certainly taken aback—how … Continue reading
When you open a door—night visions with Kafka or Beckett
My older son started a new school in May. This was a difficult decision, changing schools so late in the year, but one we made quite deliberately in navigating the New York City school system and the emerging needs of … Continue reading
My Father’s Guns (part 4) – Final Installment
©2007, originally published in Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts, Vol. 6, “My Father’s Guns,” by Kara Frye My Father’s Guns IV. Travel back. The early eighties: I might have been ten or eleven, and Dad had recently been … Continue reading
My Father’s Guns (part 3)
©2007, originally published in Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts, Vol. 6, “My Father’s Guns,” by Kara Frye My Father’s Guns III. Stewart’s Gun Shop in Bloomington is on South Walnut, a side street perpendicular to central downtown. I’d … Continue reading
Posted in EXIT WOUND: Suicide is Not a Love Story, Memoir, Memory, Suicide
Tagged BATF, depression, divorce, father-daughter relationships, grief, gun laws, memoir, memory, suicide, suicide survivors, writing
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My Father’s Guns (part 2)
©2007, originally published in Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts, Vol. 6, “My Father’s Guns,” by Kara Frye My Father’s Guns II. On Bastille Day 1998, accidental marker of independence and revolt, I exit the plane from New York … Continue reading