Looking at the definition of an autobiography, it is said to be “a history of a person’s life written or told by that person” (Oxford Dictionary). Although this definition is very flexible in how to represent an autobiography, in the past it can be seen that most authors have similar patterns in the way they write. In a traditional autobiography, everything is written in prose, each sentence beginning with a capitalized letter and ending in punctuation. Every sentence falling in order, one after another, until it creates a full paragraph, then the enter button follows and the process starts again. Although this method has been successful in the past, some writers are taking the autobiography to the next level. Instead of just relating an autobiography to factual events, authors have begun to incorporate an imaginative and almost creative process in telling their non-fiction stories. To enhance and draw attention to the creative aspect in the non-fiction, the use of multimedia and multi-genre text are included into the pages of the autobiography, ultimately increasing the personal connection with the author. The concept of adding multimedia and multi-genre to autobiographical text can be seen in N. Scott Momaday’s, The Names, where photos and his interpretation of his past are used in telling the story of his life, as well as in Natasha Trethewey’s novel Beyond Katrina, where she incorporates prose and poems to tell her story about the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In both cases, the typical format of an autobiography is completely changed, leaving the reader with a more creative text that enhances the personal connection between the reader and author.
In N. Scott Momaday’s memoir, The Names, photography as well as prose are incorporated into his autobiography. When first seeing his use of photography, it almost seems logical. By nature, photographs are a form of documentation, as they represent the past of a person or place. Using photography in an autobiography allows the author to show his readers what he tries to say in words, almost creating a stronger personal connection with his audience. This connection develops because photography allows the reader to view a moment out of a person’s life that is concrete, making it seem like the reader is viewing an event through the authors own eyes. Although Momaday adapts this generalized meaning of a photograph to his own story, he adds a twist. He begins to incorporate an imaginative side in interpreting his photos, allowing the reader to understand Momaday on a more personal level. For instance, a photograph of Momaday as a young boy is shown with the caption, “I believe that I was thinking on great things” (Momaday 71). When first looking at this photo, it seems like a typical studio photograph that most parents have their children take at this age, but what makes this photo more complicated is the inclusion of a caption. This is because it is almost impossible to recollect what a person was thinking when a photo was taken, but Momaday does this. He begins to interpret and imagine an idea of himself in this photo that could be completely false, which is the opposite of what an autobiography should portray. The interesting aspect is that his use of imagination does not weaken, but strengthens the autobiography, resulting in a closer relationship to the author. For example, Momaday writes, “If I were to remember other things, I should be someone else”, (Momaday 63). Momaday’s interpretation of an autobiography is focused more on events that happen in a person’s life, and how they remember certain events. So in reality, for Momaday, an autobiography is a set of facts that a person believes to be true about themselves. For instance, when thinking about an event that took place in life, one story could be remembered in many different ways, some stories are completely forgotten, and others are remembered forever. In the end it is up to the individual person to decide how a memory is stored, and when the reader is able to understand this, a personal connection is made. A connection is formed because when the reader is able to see how the author thinks and why they thought that way, it is almost like being in their head, seeing an event from a different perspective, and eventually understanding that person. In N. Scott Momaday’s memoir, The Names, the incorporation of photography and captions help Momaday interpret his life, and form a closer relationship with the reader. Although it seems strange to include a fictional way to interpret one’s life, in the end it strengths the autobiography as well as the personal connect with the reader, which was made possible with the use of multimedia.
As seen with N. Scott Momaday’s memoir, The Names, the use of multimedia can be integrated into an autobiography, increasing the effectiveness of the story; but photographs are not the only option. In Natasha Trethewey’s novel, Beyond Katrina, poems are included alongside prose to help Trethewey tell her story about the Mississippi Gulf Coast. When just looking at the general definition of a poem, it is said to be, “a literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm” (Oxford Dictionary). From the definition it can be seen that poetry is associated more with the idea of imagination and conveying certain feelings one has, which can be seen in Trethewey’s own poetry. For example, while reading the poem Liturgy, each line reverts back to a previously stated aspect in the text that was written in prose. Natasha writes, “To the security guard staring at the Gulf / To Billy Scarpetta, waiting tables on the coast / To the woman dreaming of returning to the coast / To miss Mary, somewhere” (Trethewey 65). When reading about them the second time, it is almost different; the emotion and the connection with these people seem to strengthen. For instance, when first hearing these stories, they are completely spread out in the novel, one being on page sixteen another on page ninety, with no real relationship besides where they lived. While in the poem the stories become one, Trethewey is able to create one story out of many, through her use of figurative language in her poetry. As the poem continues, Natasha writes, “This is a memory of the coast: to each his own / recollections, her reclamations, their / restorations, the returning of the coast” (Trethewey 66). Although the idea of the coast having memories is imagined, it helps blend their stories together in a way that creates a stronger emotional reaction to their lives. As she make the land the people are living on come to life, and as it is dying the only life line it has are the people living on top of it. In the end illustrating the fact that is it not one person going through a disaster; they are one of many, and the only way for the coast to come back to life is for them to come together, just as the poem was put together. By fusing together the stories of Katrina into a poem Trethewey was able to create a stronger personal connection to the tragedy and the people. Although she did this with the use of a poetic license, it does take away from the autobiography; this is due to the personification intensify the main point that Trethewey was trying to express: the returning of the coast. This was all able to be portrayed with the use of figurative language and a multi-genre text.
It has become routine to view the genre of non-fiction as just a straight list of facts, with no creative depth to enhance the telling of the author’s story, but in many cases this is untrue. A story can be told in many ways, and there is no set formula on how to express a given fact. In N. Scott Momaday’s memoir, The Names, the use of photographs and captions are used in a way that incorporates an imaginative interpretation of his life. In addition, Natasha Trethewey’s novel, Beyond Katrina, includes the use of poetry in her story on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, were she begins to personify the Gulf Coast as a person. In both stories, the idea of imagination is used alongside autobiography, resulting in a stronger personal connect between the author and their readers. This was all made possible through the use of multimedia and multi-genre in the texts.
Work Cited
Momaday, N. Scott. The Names: a Memoir. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. Print.
Trethewey, Natasha D. Beyond Katrina: a Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Athens: University of Georgia, 2010. Print.
