Nora Ephrons Memoir: I Remember Nothing - Essay Example

Memoirs as a piece of literature captivate shades of life. Great people make great memoirs. History, scandals, spices, and events light up every page of their memoirs and make it more and more attractive to the readers. Not only has this, but also memoirs captivated within their compass time, culture and history. They bear the imprints and marks of a by-gone time, defining the people, lifestyle, and food habits of those eras during which these memoirs were written.

Nora Ephron’s memoir, “I Remember Nothing” is far beyond the ordinary memoirs which talk about lives and relations. “I Remember Nothing” is a memoir from the cut-throated and sharp-toothed journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and director at the same place. A sharp focus and insightful essays on the early life of Ephron spent with her parents at Beverly Hills and much about the life and aftermath after her divorce. “I Remember Nothing” is a prototype biography of an archetypal American woman born and brought up during a post-modern era. “I Remember Nothing” therefore cannot be termed as a biography of a single woman and some gamut of her life. It is symbolic of an era and captivates within its womb a story of a woman whose life can be related to million other lives born and brought up under the same shade of socio-cultural and socio-economic inspirations.

Turning the pages of a book like “I Remember Nothing” by Nora Ephron, one gets a clear view that the book has come out from a journalist’s desk. Even Ephron dedicated an entire chapter to the profession of journalism and named it ‘Journalism: A Love Story’ (Ephron 16-30). Sarcastic, humorous, and full of wit and wisdom, the book “I Remember Nothing” definitely delivers a trajectory of a high-spirited woman who dares to throw jokes at her own self and state it before the entire world.

The book, “I Remember Nothing” like America’s most revered author Ernest Hemingway captivates the essence of a journalistic narrative or journalistic appeal all through the book. The language of the book is simple; the syntax is lucid and very straightforward in tone. Delving deep into the subject matter of the book one easily gets the notion that Ephron nowhere tried to show that she is pedantic. There are no such hard or classical allusions that make it obscure for the readers. The use of technical jargon in the book is minimal. All this clearly indicates the purpose of Ephron behind writing this book. She wanted to narrate a story of a woman and her encounters with her growing age. She experiences and simply shares it with the world. She is generous in this term and hardly there would be any reader who would not comprehend and compliment the book.

The memoir, “I Remember Nothing” is undoubtedly different from the other biographies written with historical information or intonations. Living in America has always been very hard and it gets captivated within the pages of her essay entitled, ‘Journalism: A Love Story. Harder than this Ephron narrates is to sustain with men in her life and she captivates them in the chapter ‘The D Word’ (Ephron 119-125). A writer is best known for his writing. After reading “I Remember Nothing’ one can come to a conclusion that Nora Ephron is very thoughtful, humorous, witty, and intelligent. The most fascinating facet of her life is her insight and keen observance which helped her excel in her profession. She is brave and quite strong convicted in all her actions which allowed her to narrate her experiences with her alcoholic mother and liaisons with myriad men. She grew old and is ready to accept that with a big heart. She is the first and unique writer of her generation who very heartily accepted old age with grace, humor, and reluctance. She knows that age has its own limitations. She accepts it and embraces it like a passionate lover embraces her beloved in her youth.