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Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love

Book by Dani Shapiro · 4 quotes · Adulthood, Death, Guilt

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Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love Quotes

“Students sometimes tell me. that they're waiting for someone to die before they feel they can write their story. They say this sheepishly, guiltily. As if, in some way, they're wishing for that person to expire, already, so they can get on with the business of writing about them. I try to liberate my students from those tortured thoughts by telling them that they may as well just start now, because it can be more difficult to write about the dead than to write about the living. The dead can't fight back. The dead have no voice. They can't say: But that isn't how it was. You're getting it wrong. They can't say: But I loved you so. They can't say: I had no idea.”

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“I tell my students, who are concerned with the question of betrayal, that when it comes to memoir, there is no such thing as absolute truth—only the truth that is singularly their own. I say this not to release them from responsibility but to illuminate the subjectivity of our inner lives. One person's experience is not another's.”

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Book:Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
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