Memoir and Autobiography

This week Marlon and Jake delve into the very real lives of very dead writers. From Gore Vidal to Frank McCourt, Ulysses S. Grant to Gabriel García Márquez, they discuss how memory compares to history and whether the trustworthiness of a memoir really matters if the book is a compelling read. Their discussion about WASPy realism leads them to debate whether John Cheever or John Updike is the better writer, and Marlon poses the scandalous question of whether Jane Austen lacked passion (gasp!). Whether they’re talking about philandering playwrights or humorous newspaper columnists, Marlon and Jake prove that truth really can be stranger than fiction.

Select titles mentioned in this episode:

Personal Memoirs by Ulysses Grant
Palimpsest by Gore Vidal
The Night of the Gun by David Carr
Act One by Moss Hart
Once in a Lifetime by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
The Man Who Came to Dinner by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel García Márquez
Rabbit Series (Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit

At Rest) by John Updike
The Maples Stories by John Updike
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
At Wit’s End by Erma Bombeck
If Life is a Bowl of Cherries by Erma Bombeck