ABSTRACT
I have always felt that truth is prophetic, that if you describe precisely what you see and give it life with your imagination, then what you write ought to have lasting value, no matter the mood of your prose.
Paul Theroux, Fresh Air Fiend 1
[T]o observe [or interview] others is to colonize them. To write their experiences in your book or article is to use them. It is to place yourself, as author, in a superior relationship to the persons you are observing, hearing, and analyzing.Goodall, as cited in Nick Trujillo
In Search of Naunny’s Grave 2
Language can never contain a whole person, so every act of writing a person’s life is inevitably a violation.Josselson, as cited in Carolyn Ellis
Telling Secrets, Revealing Lives 3
In Togo, we volunteers had a lovely book-lending system, built up over Peace Corps’ long presence in the country Over the years, books have been sent by family and friends to volunteers, or brought to the country by the volunteers themselves, and then left, supplying future volunteers with several well-stocked libraries that are scattered at volunteer houses throughout Togo. Peace Corps memoirs are well represented in the collection.