By Sophia Whang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
[email protected] Monday It’s been a few
years now, and I still feel distant. I’ve tried to open
myself up and I’ve tried desperately to find connections
between my experiences and those of characters in books. But the
typical novel just doesn’t cut it when I want to read a story
relevant to my life, something real that I can empathize with.
Tomorrow I’m on a mission. I’ll look into books that
speak to me on a more intimate level.
Tuesday I walked down to the local bookstore
and found a number of books that sought to provide that close
connection. I noticed the sudden surge in literature trying to
personalize experiences using the diary format ““ such as
“Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “The Nanny
Diaries” ““ and in memoirs like “Dreaming: Hard
Luck and Good Times in America.” I thought, how exciting. I
remember spending hours trying to find the secret hiding place of
my sister’s treasured diary. Now I don’t have to hunt
to read the juicy mysteries of another. I coincidentally ran into a
student, a first-year undeclared student named Liora Clayman, who
had already read “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”
“It seemed like I was reading about a real person because the
novel is written like a diary and that makes it more personal to
read,” Clayman said. “When you read most fiction you
think of the people as characters made up in someone’s mind.
But with “˜Bridget Jones’ you think you’re reading
about the experiences of a real person.” So although the lady
named Bridget Jones didn’t really exist, she did in the mind
of author Helen Fielding, and those of her readers as a result of
the way it was written. Fielding’s first book, “Cause
Celeb,” and its heroine, Rosie Richardson, are actually based
on her and her own experiences in an African refugee camp. But the
later “Bridget Jones” newspaper column series in its
diary format proved to be more successful. The novel version sold
over 4 million copies worldwide and has been turned into a feature
film with plans for a sequel. “People always say how Bridget
Jones is so trivial and silly. She only talks about calories and
boys,” Fielding said in a Bruin interview in March. “I
always want to say, “˜Well, my first book was about a woman
running a refugee camp in Africa, but no one wanted to buy that
one.'” Another well-known book that recounts a story in
a journal format is Emma McLaughlin’s and Nicola Kraus’
“The Nanny Diaries.” The book is also a bestseller in
England and Miramax already has plans to make it into a feature
film. Based on the authors’ actual experience working for
Manhattan’s rich and privileged families, readers get an
inside look into the lifestyles of the rich and famous. The
experience, however, appeared to be mirrored in the new television
series “The Hamptons,” coupled with the account of a
more conventional version of “The Osbournes.” With so
much reality television these days, it is refreshing to know that
the trend started in literature far before.
Wednesday Today I met with Carolyn See, who is
an English professor who teaches a memoir class and has also
written her own memoir, “Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times
in America.” I mentioned the books I had found and their
similarities to the reality television shows. Is this trend, in all
things, reality? Are people as desperate as I am to find proof that
others have it just as bad or even worse? “Reality television
is so doctored, tweaked, edited, and people are, by nature, acting
for a larger audience, even if it’s “˜reality,’
people are acting for the camera,” See said. “Memoirs
are highly personal and very often have small audiences and
it’s a person reaching out and saying, “˜This is what I
remember. Is that anything at all like what you remember?’
And often it is less real than it is surreal, which is not to say
it’s not authentic,” See added. Memoirs, like
autobiographies, are narratives inspired by personal experiences.
For See, “Dreaming” was created from events from her
life and perceptions that arose from those experiences. She
explained that memoirs, unlike other books, don’t fit into
large categories like adventure stories, war books or romance
novels; that each memoir is extremely different from the next one.
“(Memoirs are) unique and idiosyncratic, and by nature
original and they just offer a set of amazing snapshots into what
American life is today,” See said. “And it’s not
the American life that any great American novelist would write
about because usually (memoirs are) too wacky and weird. But
they’re everybody’s authentic, true adventures growing
up in the United States.” To See, the beauty of a memoir is
that audiences will never have read anything like it before. But
ironically, it’s the personal experience that draws readers
in with their hopes of finding connections and perceptions
reflected in their own lives. Although some of these memoirs and
journals are known to be fictionalized accounts, the writing
communicates with readers in an intimate way. To some, the books
are cherished because the stories read realistically, and others
are attracted to the idiosyncrasies. As for the memoirs and diaries
that are real, reality television does not compete on the same
level. An author is acting for no one, and the reader gets a
truthful and private account of another person’s life.
With reports by Ken Ruda and Nick Rabinowitsh, Daily Bruin
Contributors.