Privacy, Autobiography and Family

Apparently one of the things about Raina Telgemeier's comics which makes them resonate so much with kids is that they are pretty unsparing in their portrayals of family life. Few punches are pulled. Which was fine while Telgemeier enjoyed modest success, but became problematic in her family when all of a sudden her books were selling in the millions and were a fixture in all school and public libraries.

Something similar happened with Knausgaard. He wrote very clearly and directly about the minutiae of his family life. As his fame grew and seemingly every adult in Norway and a good chunk of the literary world globally had read his books, his family got uncomfortable. Eventually his wife divorced him. Maybe not 100% over his books, but probably mostly.

Somewhere in there I had to make a conscious choice not to go down that path. Thankfully, there appears to be little risk of my blog becoming a worldwide literary sensation. But in any case I prize my family harmony above strict fidelity to the bloody shovel of naturalism.

One story I will tell you is this. On Saturday I was up at Haig's house for a little BBQ and Cashwell was there. He reminded me of how, when Natalie was at Gwynn Valley with his son Sam when they were younger, Natalie had been so kind to Sam -- who's a little younger than her -- that Sam told his dad about it. Cashwell had told me that story before, but I had forgotten it. I was of course delighted to be reminded of it.