memoir vs narrative

memoir

noun
  • Any form of narrative describing the personal experiences of a writer. 

  • A biography; a book describing the experiences of a subject from personal knowledge of the subject or from sources with personal knowledge of the subject. 

  • An autobiography; a book describing the personal experiences of an author. 

narrative

noun
  • A manner of conveying a story, fictional or otherwise, in a body of work. 

  • The systematic recitation of an event or series of events. 

  • That which is narrated. 

  • A representation of an event or story in a way to promote a certain point of view. 

adj
  • Of or relating to narration. 

  • Overly talkative; garrulous. 

  • Telling a story. 

How often have the words memoir and narrative occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )