Why Cunningham's memoir may feel unusually expansive

Why can Cunningham's memoir give the impression that he enjoyed the sound of his own voice?

One proposed explanation is that an author without children may use a memoir to pass on stories that have not already been told and refined within the family.

Andrew Cunningham's memoir prompts a suggestion about why some autobiographies are unusually expansive. In Dr. Clarke's experience, authors without children sometimes use their books to pass on stories they have not already told within a family. Repeatedly telling stories to children can help an author select and shorten them. Cunningham's lack of children is the biographical link behind this proposed explanation.