Good Soldier Shweik
Private
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2018
- Location
- on a volcano
I came to an interest in this topic because Grant's memoirs were recommended to me. Grant as a stylist and an author can't be compared to any of his contemporaries. He was streets, highways, interstates beyond any of them. Mark Twain should have worried about Grant as competition. I put Grant ahead of Mark as an author.
I have Longstreet's memoirs. He had a good style, but he had no sense of what was important to the reader, and he was no way near to Grant in terms of claritrty. The book is almost unreadable in spots. he also loved style which obscured but sounded well. His good spots read like oratory than tale telling.
I suspect Julia Grant got a huge dose of editing by academics when her memoirs were released. It shows a heathy reorganization that Julia herself lacked.
Sherman was his own editor, and he edited his book shamelessly.
Sheridan was a good writer in the sense that he organized his story to make salient points he wanted to make that were more important than what actually happened.
What do you think are the best /worst memoirs? I think Grant's memoirs will be in print for as long as people speak english. Most memoirs are an embarrassment.
I have Longstreet's memoirs. He had a good style, but he had no sense of what was important to the reader, and he was no way near to Grant in terms of claritrty. The book is almost unreadable in spots. he also loved style which obscured but sounded well. His good spots read like oratory than tale telling.
I suspect Julia Grant got a huge dose of editing by academics when her memoirs were released. It shows a heathy reorganization that Julia herself lacked.
Sherman was his own editor, and he edited his book shamelessly.
Sheridan was a good writer in the sense that he organized his story to make salient points he wanted to make that were more important than what actually happened.
What do you think are the best /worst memoirs? I think Grant's memoirs will be in print for as long as people speak english. Most memoirs are an embarrassment.