A memoir, a fictionalised memoir, a roman à cléf, a piece of creative non-fiction, all of these, none of these...anybody have any ideas?
There are so many variants of this tale available at the present time that I confess I'm confused, and if I'm confused, I can only imagine what others must feel. What is featured here is what I pretentiously like to see as a fictionalised memoir, or even more so, a work of creative non-fiction or roman a clef, which it almost certainly isn't. But then what it actually is I haven't the first or faintest idea and am open to all suggestions and help as to how I might improve its prospects if indeed it has any. What is certain is that the main character of David Cristiansen is in fact, the pseudonymous me. Moreover, most of the other personal names, and the vast majority of names of institutions, have also been changed, while the dialogue is of course approximate. It centres on the life of the hero, David Cristiansen, as he wades his way through a turbulent youth and young manhood, and as might be expected, it's a heavily sanitised account, but it does have a happy ending. Which is something.