For Mr. Reich-Ranicki, the memoir played down the persecution of the Jews; for Mr. Walser, it was a painful confrontation with the past.
George Packer, in his review of Michael Hayden's memoir, "Playing to the Edge," describes the shortcomings of the former C.I.A. director ("Can You Keep a Secret?" March 7th).
It doesn't come from nowhere, of course: In some ways, "What the Constitution Means to Me" recalls Lisa Kron's memoir play "Well," in which a prepared speech about urban decline is hijacked by a mother who begs to differ.
On Tuesday, Fleury will appear at a Manhattan bookstore in support of his memoir, "Playing With Fire," which was published last month and is the No. 1 nonfiction book in Canada.
Next to this, it comes as no surprise to see that his debut novel, The Syme Papers, set itself up proudly from the outset as a piece of historical literary fakery, and that there is also a fictionalised memoir, Playing Days, among his published works.
In particular it focuses on Fania Fenelon's memoir, Playing for Time (1976), which was subsequently adapted into a film.
He quotes her memoir "Playing the Field," in which she describes Burt Reynolds as "high on jive but low on substance".
"Humor Abuse" -- the comedic memoir play by Lorenzo Pisoni that recently opened at the Mark Taper Forum -- has received a significant publicity boost thanks to a related Kickstarter campaign launched with the help of "Mad Men" actor Jon Hamm.
This contains characters from fiction, as well as passages from memoirs, plays and poetry.
