Events, Reading Room

January 2025 – Me: A Memoir

Wednesday, January 8th @7:00PM CT

Me: A Memoir – By Brenda Ueland 

“With ME, Brenda Ueland wrote a true book and it is her masterpiece.”—Patricia Hampl, from the introduction

In work, in play, in marriage, in bringing up her daughter, in her reading (she says she was much influenced by Van Gogh’s letters), in the real pressure of experience, the author passed from adolescence to maturity and found her own way to fullness in life.

Brenda Ueland’s own passionate coming-of-age story set in Minneapolis and Greenwich Village is the focus of this classic autobiography, first published in 1939.

Book Summary:

Ueland, a strident individualist, early feminist, writer, and teacher, was one of seven children born into an unconventional midwestern family. In Me, her engaging anecdotes with friends, lovers, siblings and husbands include tales of her encounters with Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen, with an anarchist named Raoul Hendricson who left her for Isadora Duncan, of brushings with Theodore Dreiser, Willa Cather, Eugene O”Neill and John Reed. Because she grew up in a era where the life of the mind was most important, Me is replete with Ueland’s active wrestling with whatever author she reads, castigating herself with Nietzsche, soaring with Keats, and trying to apply Tolstoy, Chekhov and Shakespeare to her attitudes and daily behavior. Autobiographies tend to be tedious, arrogant, self-congratulatory, but Ueland’s colorful, humorous disposition and intelligence prevent that. Me is a gush of life and a vivid record of growth.
Register here
About The Book About The Author

Quotes by the Author

“Everybody is talented because everybody who is human has something to express.”

“When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand. Ideas actually begin to grow within us and come to life.”

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does Ueland define creativity in Me: A Memoir? Do you agree with her belief that everyone has creative potential? Why or why not?
  2. As a woman in the early 20th century, Ueland reflects on the challenges she faced as a writer and how she was often judged or limited by society’s expectations of women. What do you think of her experiences and how she addresses gender? Do you think her perspective still feels relevant today?
  3. Throughout the memoir, Ueland talks about the important influence of teachers, mentors, and others who encouraged her to be creative. How did her mentors shape her ideas about writing and creativity?
    Have you ever had a mentor who helped shape your own creativity?
  4. Do you think that Ueland’s attitude toward self-doubt and creativity could apply to other areas of life, not just writing? How can we apply her lessons about creative freedom to personal or professional growth?
  5. How does Ueland’s memoir differ from other memoirs you’ve read, especially those written by women or creative people? What does her perspective bring?

View past and future books from the Reading Room.