My mother’s memoirs,
my Father’s Lie, and
other true stories.
Russell Banks ( was born in Newton, Massachusetts and was
educated at Carolina).
My mother’s memoirs, my
Father’s Lie,
 in the story a gentleman, Earl, is putting his
relationship with his parents in perspective by
recalling some of the stories and lies they told.
Earl’s mother’s stories:
 Focus on well-known and well-loved people and
situations. Earl tells the reader that his mother grew
up “poor and beautiful in a New England mill
town. By telling stories about romantically rejection
the glamorous movie star Sonny Tufts, knowing the
infamous characters Peyton Place, and seeing Earl
on television being interviewed by Dan Rather.
Father’s lies
 Earl describes his father as a “depressed, cynical
alcoholic”. Earl tells the reader that, in contrast to
his mother, has father didn’t tell stories. The one
story Earl’s father did tell was that of his beloved
Uncle Earl, after whom he named his son. Earl’s
father lamented that his parents “tried to get rod of
him in the summers” but Uncle Earl loved him. Earl
later finds that that this story is a lie, that Uncle Earl
didn’t exist.
 Earl’s mother hopes to gain the love that Sonny
Tuft, Peyton Place, and Dan Rather receive by
creating a fictitious associated to them.
 Earl’s father recognized his lack of love and, in an
effort to find wholeness, he created a self that once
had the love he seeks.