Zinsser is argues that the best memoirs focus on a specific time and place., is expressing the idea that the most compelling memoirs are those that concentrate on a specific period and location, recounting their experiences as if they are still the child or teenager they were during the events.
What are they instances given by Zinsser
Zinsser gives the examples such as Russell Baker's "Growing Up," V. S. Pritchett's "A Cab at the Door," and Jill Ker Conway's "The Road from Coorain," he illustrates how these memoirs effectively portray the experiences of young individuals grappling with life's challenges in the company of adults.
Zinsser underscores the significance of maintaining the historical and environmental context of that particular time and place to enhance the impact of a memoir.
The paragraph
one of the questions often asked by memoir writers is: should I write from the point of view of the child I once was, or of the adult I am now? The strongest memoirs, I think, are those that preserve the unity of a remembered time and place: books like Russell Baker’sGrowing Up, or V. S.Pritchett’sA Cab at the Door, or Jill Ker Conway’sThe Road from Coorain, which recall what it was like to be a child or an adolescent in a world of adults contending with life’s adversities.