WEBVTT

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All right, welcome.

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In her essay "Memory
and Imagination,"

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which she calls her old
chestnut as of today,

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Patricia Hampl tells the story
of learning to play the piano.

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She describes the
convulsive sneezes

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of her teacher,
Sister Olive Marie,

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the slant of the
sunlight through the dust

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onto the red Thompson book,
and the tortured scales

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and arpeggios crashing
off piano keys.

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Hampl finishes the story and
immediately tells the readers

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that "in regards to the details,
I must admit that I invented.

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I told a number of lies."

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She didn't say that
to be inflammatory

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or to condone falsifying,
rather to engage

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in a necessary discussion about
the relationship of memory

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to imagination and
ultimately to writing.

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It was seven years ago,
and while Hampl's ideas

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have shifted and
deepened, her words

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revived the long-debated
conversation that still ripples

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through writing and
reading communities

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and even through the
national news as of late.

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With the surging interest in
memoir and personal essay,

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we see the fierce
power of literature

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as it riles and rattles
classrooms, book clubs, talk

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shows, and breakfast
conversations.

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In the "Memory and
Imagination" essay,

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Hampl goes on to discuss
the mysterious relationship

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between images of our
remembered experiences,

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be they convulsive sneezes
or the horrors of Auschwitz,

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and the emotion
behind those images.

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Hampl says, "Stalking
that relationship,

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seeking the congruence between
stored image and hidden

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emotion--

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that's the real job of memoir."

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She says it boldly.

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"That's the real job of memoir."

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Here, memory meets imagination.

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Hampl says that it is
not enough to transcribe

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an experience, a
chunk of history,

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but a writer must try
to make sense of it,

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to transform experience
into meaning.

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By shaping the personal
story and layering it

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with reflection, getting as
close to the emotional truth

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as memory allows, the
memoirist creates a work of art

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that speaks not only to
the self but to the larger

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world because, as Hampl says,
"I don't write about what I know

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but in order to find
out what I know."

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There we have it--

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truth as exploration,
writing as articulation

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of that exploration.

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Hampl tells us if we refuse
to do the work of creating

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this personal
version of the past,

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someone else will do it for
us, and what is remembered

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becomes reality.

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Maybe that is why we, in a
time of deep political distrust

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in what Hampl calls
the teetering empire,

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look to memoir because we want
to understand and remember.

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It is a voice like Patricia
Hampl's that helps us remember.

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Hampl has a stunning list of
accomplishments and awards,

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both in teaching and writing,
including two National

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Endowment for the
Arts Fellowships,

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a Guggenheim, five years
of MacArthur Fellowship,

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and distinguished
visiting professor

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awards and honorary doctorates
from several colleges.

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Having written a
dozen books, including

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I Could Tell You Stories--

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Sojourns in the Land of
Memory and Virgin Time

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and the forthcoming
Blue Arabesque

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and Florist's Daughter,
plus innumerable essays,

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short stories, and
poems, Hampl continues

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to write while she teaches
as a Regents Professor

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at the University of
Minnesota and travels

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across the country
and internationally,

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giving readings and lectures.

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Several of our own
graduate students

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have worked with her at
the Prague Summer Seminar,

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and they use words
like "tremendous"

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and "truly inspiring"
to describe

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their experiences with Hampl.

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Patricia Hampl tackles
complicated ideas

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about memory, truth, also
about family, culture, beauty,

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and how to write a good story.

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She articulates her thoughts
with grace, kindness,

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and bold precision.

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Tonight, we have the
opportunity to hear how

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her fiercely smart mind works.

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Please welcome, as Fenton
says, a lovely person,

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a great writer, Patricia Hampl.

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