Chapter 02 of 5
The Art of the Memoir
How Hellman’s 'Pentimento' sparked a debate over truth versus creative license.
- The Pivot
From Stage to Page
After decades as a titan of Broadway, Lillian Hellman reinvented herself as a memoirist. She traded the artifice of drama for the supposed intimacy of personal history.
- Literary Sensation
The Rise of An Unfinished Woman
Hellman’s 1969 memoir was a massive success, winning the National Book Award. It painted her as a fearless intellectual moving through the 20th century’s greatest storms.
- Creative Concept
Pentimento Defined
Her second memoir, 'Pentimento', used a painterly term for an image that reappears through layers of paint. It suggested that memory was a process of uncovering hidden truths.
17 more cards in this chapter
Could you answer this?
What specific term did Lillian Hellman use as a title to describe memory as layers of paint being uncovered?
✒️ The Ink-Stained Feud of the Century
- 01Partisans and ProseThe mid-century literary scene where aesthetic and political lines were drawn.
- 02The Art of the MemoirHow Hellman’s 'Pentimento' sparked a debate over truth versus creative license.
- 03The Dick Cavett IncidentThe televised insult that turned a private grudge into a public spectacle.
- 04Libel and the LexiconThe $2.5 million lawsuit that put the definition of 'truth' on trial.
- 05The Unfinished ChapterHow the feud ended in a stalemate and reshaped the ethics of life writing.