Mennonites have traditionally avoided focusing on the self or on the broader world—the two audiences that memoir caters to most—but memoir can actually help Mennonites to heal and to express pride in their distinct ethnic community.
Writing about one's own life can seem boastful and self-centered to humility-conscious Mennonites. By writing at all, an author implies that he or she has something of more than average importance to say to the world, and writing memoir suggests that the author's life itself is of more than average importance. Julia Kasdorf talks about struggling with this Mennonite taboo against distinguishing the self in her essay “Bringing Home the Work.” She writes about the Mennonite author, “To do this [write] she must assume a certain authority, a belief that her perceptions are true and worth telling. Yet to brood over one's existence and to speak in this way is antithetical to the long tradition of Demut (humility) and Gelassenheit (submission) so embedded in many Mennonite souls” (44).
And yet sometimes writing about the self can provide a cathartic outlet for change and healing—sometimes turning one's personal pain over to the broader world through writing can help the individual move past him- or herself. This is the goal that the character Hannah from the movie Pearl Diver has in mind when she sets out to write the traumatic memoir of her mother's murder (though her story is not published in the end). Perhaps this was also Rhoda Janzen's aim in writing her memoir, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress. Throughout the book she processes, through writing, her anger and sadness at her failed relationship with her husband Nick. On the last page, she writes, “Without my husband I had somehow drifted back to this point of origin . . . I suddenly had the feeling you get when, after a long sea swim, you touch bottom and draw a breath of relief” (224). Janzen's return to a Mennonite community and her journey in writing this book have both freed her and helped her to move beyond herself—to find both the Mennonite community and the community that will read her memoir.
In the past Mennonites have also attempted to separate themselves from the world, but by exposing Mennonite culture to a broader audience, memoir bridges that gap between the the Mennonite community and the rest of the world. But writing about Mennonite experience doesn't have to assimilate Mennonites into the mainstream; on the contrary, memoir can help them take pride in their own distinct Mennonite ethnicity. Many of Julia Kasdorf's autobiographical poems in the collection Sleeping Preacher hold a sense of nostalgia for the Mennonite community in which Kasdorf grew up. Her poem “Mennonites” especially exposes the distinctiveness of Mennonite culture to her audience, who are mainly non-Mennonites. “We must love our enemies. / We must forgive as our sins are forgiven” (34). After detailing all of these Mennonite beliefs and customs, Kasdorf goes on to write that Mennonites intend to maintain this unique identity in the world. “That is why we cannot leave the beliefs,” she writes, “or what else would we be?” (34). Far from making the Mennonite community more worldly, writing about Mennonite experience for a broader audience actually shows it to the world as a distinct culture with its own principles and beliefs by which it will continue to stand.
Sarah, this essay is well-structured, offering a positive thesis on the potential of Mennonite literature to articulate values and principles to readers from both inside and outside the Mennonite community. You've also used well-chosen quotes to give the reader a taste of the texts you discuss. In places you could delve into the specific examples a bit more. For instance, in discussing Kasdorf's "Bringing Home the Work," you discuss the writer's struggles with writing the self. But you don't really explore what makes it worthwhile for this writer to use the self as a subject. Later you refer to the "nostalgia" of her poems in Sleeping Preacher, but this text also reveals a real struggle to bridge and embrace two different worlds and the space between. It would be interesting to explore both Hannah AND Sidney King's journeys in "returning" to the community to find their stories. In fact, homecoming appears to be a theme in all of these works. So good work, but potential to do even more exploring.
ReplyDeleteGood to bring in Pearl Diver, MLBD, and other works we have read in order to further develop your post.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your personal opinion on Kasdorf's quote of not leaving the beliefs "or what else would you be?" Would you be able to be who you are without having your Mennonite beliefs or is being a Mennonite all you really are? Without being a Mennonite, are you relatively nothing? Do you not exist? As only an example to her quote, look at me! I have not a religion, and I am very much alive. I have my own beliefs and ideas.
This brings up an excellent point. Traditionally Mennonites are humble and aim to avoid openly bragging about their accomplishments. But memoir writing seems to entirely counter this, as it is mainly about the self.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, though, in that the "catharsis" of Mennonite writings seem to trump the breaching of humbleness. Overall, the good it creates--the bonding, sharing, connections, and ethnic pride within the stories--are highly worth any loss of modesty.
Still, a "Mennonite writer" does hold that weird double standard and needs to maneuver how to balance both sides.