Fake memoirs in contemporary history and literature

Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - History of Literature, Eras, , language: English, abstract: In this essay, I am going to talk about memoirs. But what if a memoir is a fake one and the described events have actually never taken place in real life? To make the matters worse - how should one evaluate a piece of writing claimed to be a memoir which received appreciation, various prizes and rewards, and then was declared a fake bringing fame and shame to its author? The central question of this work becomes the role of memoirs announced and proved fabricated, both in the historical methodology and literature. When it comes to memoirs, the word memoir is derived from Anglo-French memorie 'note, memorandum, something written to be kept in mind', which is special in itself - writers of memoirs are usually those persons who either have played roles in, or have been close observers of, particular historical events and whose main purpose is to describe or interpret the events, not their personas from the inside. The condition of remembering and non-forgetting is of importance here; the word in itself suggests that if an event should be not only written down but also remembered, it might play a role for future generations, whether in broad or narrow sense.