Memoirous

  Girl, 1983 Linn Ullmann, translated from Norwegian by Martin Aitken W.W, Norton & Company, 2024, original 2021   “A masterpiece. It pushes the fused power of memoir and story to a new dimension.” Ali Smith I’ve read Ali Smith—along with a whole slew of other authors that blurbed the book: Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk, Roxana Robinson, Claire Messud. This is a power field of influencers, all praising Girl, 1983. But, it is the Smith endorsement that caught my attention. You see, memoir and story are the cornerstones of my Freeze Frame: Micro-Memoir workshop. Also, the 1980s is hot right now. There’s been a flashback to that era of glam, neons, and discothèques. Raving all night long before AIDS, the pandemic, before fractious politics. Maybe not AIDS—it’s at the door, knocking. The memories and vignettes are built around tension, a secret, a blurry photograph that keeps the narrator awake at night, from enjoying life, caught in a confluence of guilt and questions...