The memorized life memories of an individual are described as memoirs. The chronological development is told in an epoch, but the focus is always placed on the perception of the experiencer. Thus, memoirs are memorabilia or records of self-witnessed events. In contrast to the chronicle, memoirs focus not on a history, but on a personal experience. In contrast to autobiography, the social role of the memoir writer is clearly the focus, not the career of the not yet socialized man. The identity of the author has thus already been consolidated in memoirs.
The term goes back to the French noun memoire, whereby it can be translated with a written presentation or a memorandum. The French word derives from the Latin memoria, which can be translated with memory. Accordingly, the translation of the term already points to what is at stake: namely the written presentation of memories [a person].
Such memoirs can, in fact, be a valuable testimony to an epoch in the history of science if they appear serious, and thus form a kind of eye witness report. However, the facts that are bundled in such memoirs are, of course, rarely documented or provided with sources, which is why memoirs are always a supplementary medium of historiography.
Exemplary memoirs of the Princess Maria de la Paz of Bavaria
Note: Book cover of the memoirs of the María de la Paz, Princess of Bavaria, 1917
Characteristics of memoirs
Short overview: The most important information about the characteristics of the text location
Memoirs are the life memories of a person. It is, therefore, a matter of self-experienced historical events, whereby, moreover, one’s own behavior with respect to historical events is presented and sometimes justified. Frequently, such corrupted memories of the lives of artists, politicians as well as stars, are often composed not by these, but by ghostwriters. In part the publication is now staged as a media event.
The focus is therefore on the historical and how ebendieses was experienced. As a result, the inner development of the writer falls into the background, where unusual, interesting and particular facts are portrayed in history.
Another feature is the chronology of the representation. Memoirs are thus linearly narrated, so they have a beginning and an end, so they are a coherent and chronological report. There are, of course, deviations in the literary landscape.
In addition, memoirs are often characterized by a rather casual style. In the midst of a choral tone and sometimes insubstantial details, the place of the lyrics is thus separated from a more scientific view of the respective events, which is also characterized by a subjective coloration, which often draws a picture of the past.
Because such life memories are written from a person’s point of view, an ego narrator logically occurs, evaluating external processes as well as subjectively assessing them. Nevertheless, these narrations and narratives are not always authentic and should be critically questioned and compared with other sources.
Therefore, not only should further material be consulted for comparison, but also the reliability of the memoir writer should be questioned (what role did he play in that time, what goals could be pursued, and there could be a reason why events are misrepresented or only half the truth map?).
Such misrepresentations are not to be underestimated. As an example, a testimony of the twentieth century can be cited: the memoirs of Albert Speer. Albert Speer was a German architect, an armaments organizer in the time of National Socialism, and from 1942 Reichsminister for armament and ammunition. In his memoirs (1969) Speer writes that he did not know about the Holocaust – the genocide of over 6 million people. However, other sources can clearly prove the opposite.
Note: The term is a so-called plural etantum. This means that singular (singular) and plural (plural) of the term are identical, since it is a noun which is used exclusively in the plural. Thus in the singular and plural it is called “memoirs”.
Origins and history of the memoir literature
A first-time high of the so-called memoir literature can be found in France and England in the 17th century. Here, it was mainly nobles who wrote down their memories and thus portrayed a picture of political power struggles, intrigues, or historical events. These representations are extremely relevant to the history of modern times.
But even if the wedding of this genus is to be found in Europe, there have been such representations since ancient times. Thus, for example, the memorabilia of the Greek politician, patron and author Xenophon (c. 425 BC – after 355 BC) show his manifold memories of the philosopher Socrates.
Furthermore, the commentaries of Caesar (100 BC – 44 BC) can be regarded as a form of life-recollection. In the historical essays Commentarii de bello Gallico (Comments on the Gallic War), the Roman statesman recalls the memories of his waged wars, which were based on the annually published service reports to the Senate. These writings are almost completely preserved.
Many such representations can be made in history, although the height of this genus is mainly to be found in France. As early as the 14th century, there were first tendencies in this respect, especially the writings of Jean de Joinvilles (Memoires De Messire Iean, Sire De Ionville, 1667) and Philippe de Commynes (Les memoires sur les principaux et poses de Louis onzieme et de Charles huitieme, 1524). These works were published posthumously – after the death of the author.
The interest of the readership, however, was, in most cases, the writings of statesmen and high-ranking military, which is why the memoirs of the German founder Otto von Bismarck (Ideen und Erinnerungen, 1890) were enormously popular. This is, however, rather an autobiography, even if the boundaries are naturally fluid.
But also political events and historical events, which were not accessible to a large part of the population at the time of the incident, left great traces in the memoir literature. For example, Winston Churchill’s recollections of the Second World War can be cited in six volumes (The Second World War, 1948 to 1954), for which the British statesman even received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1953, or the memoirs of Konrad Adenauer (Erinnerungen, 1945, p 1963).Difference: autobiography, chronicle, memoirs
Autobiography: The author’s own career and the social development of the respective author is at the forefront of autobiography. The core of the considerations is, therefore, one’s own life and no historical events that have been experienced. Nevertheless, such events may have played a part in the writer’s life, which is why it is very difficult to draw a line. A well-known example is the poetry and truth of the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Chronicle: Dei Chronik is a historical proscore that tries to be objective. There is no emphasis on the subject, but rather the exact sequence of certain events. Such a chronicle can consist only of individual data lists, but also of detailed descriptions. As an example, the medieval Chronica maiora can be called by Matthaeus Parisiensis. It tries to present the history from the beginning of the world to 1259 in detail.
Memoirs: Are the memories of a person to certain historical events. The emphasis here is always on the author’s point of view, which tells of interesting or unusual events. Their own life is not an essential part of the memoirs.
Short overview: The most important part of the term at a glance
The memorized life memories of an individual are described as memoirs. The chronological development is told in an epoch, but the focus is always placed on the perception of the experiencer. They are therefore very subjective.
The memoir literature has been documented since antiquity, although a high genre can only be found in France and England in the seventeenth century, with nobles, above all, writing down their memoirs. Today it is mainly the memories of politicians, artists and famous people who are very popular.
The representations in such memories should, however, be critically questioned by the reader, because even if they represent a kind of the eye witness report, there are numerous examples of false representations as well as texts which he can be interpreted as a wishful image of the past and in no case correspond to an objective representation ,
