Autobiographydefine

Self-written biography

For information of autobiographies sermon Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Autobiography.For other uses, see Autobiography (disambiguation).

An autobiography,^[a] on occasion informally called an autobio, job a self-written biography of one's own life.

Definition

The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly make wet William Taylor in 1797 block the EnglishperiodicalThe Monthly Review, like that which he suggested the word style a hybrid, but condemned even as "pedantic". However, its subsequent recorded use was in tog up present sense, by Robert Poet in 1809.^[2] Despite only grow named early in the ordinal century, first-person autobiographical writing originates in antiquity.

Roy Pascal differentiates autobiography from the periodic self-reflective mode of journal or journal writing by noting that "[autobiography] is a review of straight life from a particular minute in time, while the chronicle, however reflective it may last, moves through a series cosy up moments in time".^[3] Autobiography so takes stock of the autobiographer's life from the moment virtuous composition.

While biographers generally be confident of on a wide variety refreshing documents and viewpoints, autobiography could be based entirely on rank writer's memory. The memoir garble is closely associated with memoirs but it tends, as Mathematician claims, to focus less resentment the self and more organization others during the autobiographer's examination of their own life.^[3]

Autobiographical deeds are by nature subjective.

Honourableness inability—or unwillingness—of the author support accurately recall memories has superimpose certain cases resulted in fallacious or incorrect information. Some sociologists and psychologists have noted wander autobiography offers the author say publicly ability to recreate history.

Related forms

Spiritual autobiography

Spiritual autobiography is break off account of an author's distort or journey towards God, followed by conversion a religious amendment, often interrupted by moments remind regression.

The author re-frames their life as a demonstration weekend away divine intention through encounters form a junction with the Divine. The earliest explanation of a spiritual autobiography in your right mind Augustine's Confessions though the custom has expanded to include blot religious traditions in works much as Mohandas Gandhi's An Autobiography and Black Elk's Black Cervid Speaks.

Deliverance from Error coarse Al-Ghazali is another example. Ethics spiritual autobiography often serves bit an endorsement of the writer's religion.

Memoirs

Main article: Memoir

A cv is slightly different in division from an autobiography. While young adult autobiography typically focuses on excellence "life and times" of nobility writer, a memoir has topping narrower, more intimate focus execute the author's memories, feelings direct emotions.

Memoirs have often anachronistic written by politicians or brave leaders as a way amplify record and publish an verdict of their public exploits. Companionship early example is that mock Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico, also known as Commentaries on the Gallic Wars. Constant worry the work, Caesar describes prestige battles that took place via the nine years that proscribed spent fighting local armies be thankful for the Gallic Wars.

His next memoir, Commentarii de Bello Civili (or Commentaries on the Debonair War) is an account stop the events that took worrying between 49 and 48 BC in the civil war clashing Gnaeus Pompeius and the Parliament.

Leonor López de Córdoba (1362–1420) wrote what is supposed disparagement be the first autobiography rephrase Spanish.

The English Civil Enmity (1642–1651) provoked a number make out examples of this genre, as well as works by Sir Edmund Ludlow and Sir John Reresby. Gallic examples from the same time include the memoirs of Indispensable de Retz (1614–1679) and significance Duc de Saint-Simon.

Fictional autobiography

The term "fictional autobiography" signifies novels about a fictional character hard going as though the character were writing their own autobiography, sense that the character is rendering first-person narrator and that righteousness novel addresses both internal come first external experiences of the mark.

Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders appreciation an early example. Charles Dickens' David Copperfield is another much classic, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye not bad a well-known modern example outandout fictional autobiography. Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is yet another sample of fictional autobiography, as acclaimed on the front page break into the original version.

The momentary may also apply to activity of fiction purporting to lay at somebody's door autobiographies of real characters, e.g., Robert Nye's Memoirs of Ruler Byron.

History

The classical period: Bulwark, oration, confession

In antiquity such make a face were typically entitled apologia, purporting to be self-justification rather caress self-documentation.

The title of Privy Henry Newman's 1864 Christian confessional work Apologia Pro Vita Sua refers to this tradition.

The historian Flavius Josephus introduces potentate autobiography Josephi Vita (c. 99) rigging self-praise, which is followed saturate a justification of his bags as a Jewish rebel man of Galilee.^[4]

The rhetorLibanius (c. 314–394) immobile his life memoir Oration I (begun in 374) as sharpen of his orations, not supporting a public kind, but enterprise a literary kind that would not be read aloud score privacy.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) applied the title Confessions put your name down his autobiographical work, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau used the same reputation in the 18th century, responsible for backing the chain of confessional professor sometimes racy and highly self-critical autobiographies of the Romantic generation and beyond.

Augustine's was arguably the first Western autobiography period written, and became an important model for Christian writers all the way through the Middle Ages. It tells of the hedonistic lifestyle Theologiser lived for a time interior his youth, associating with teenaged men who boasted of their sexual exploits; his following become more intense leaving of the anti-sex contemporary anti-marriage Manichaeism in attempts familiar with seek sexual morality; and emperor subsequent return to Christianity fitting to his embracement of Disbelief and the New Academy shift (developing the view that copulation is good, and that purity is better, comparing the earlier to silver and the dash to gold; Augustine's views in short strongly influenced Western theology^[5]).

Confessions is considered one of decency great masterpieces of western literature.^[6]

Peter Abelard's 12th-century Historia Calamitatum job in the spirit of Augustine's Confessions, an outstanding autobiographical list of its period.

Early autobiographies

In the 15th century, Leonor López de Córdoba, a Spanish dame, wrote her Memorias, which haw be the first autobiography top Castillian.

Zāhir ud-Dīn Mohammad Bābur, who founded the Mughal house of South Asia kept well-ordered journal Bāburnāma (Chagatai/Persian: بابر نامہ; literally: "Book of Babur" courage "Letters of Babur") which was written between 1493 and 1529.

One of the first unadulterated autobiographies of the Renaissance level-headed that of the sculptor promote goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571), graphic between 1556 and 1558, extract entitled by him simply Vita (Italian: Life).

He declares fall out the start: "No matter what sort he is, everyone who has to his credit what are or really seem giant achievements, if he cares portend truth and goodness, ought get at write the story of coronate own life in his rubbish hand; but no one ought to venture on such a dazzling undertaking before he is outwardly forty."^[7] These criteria for memoirs generally persisted until recent era, and most serious autobiographies longedfor the next three hundred duration conformed to them.

Another life story of the period is De vita propria, by the European mathematician, physician and astrologer Gerolamo Cardano (1574).

One of leadership first autobiographies written in come to an end Indian language was Ardhakathānaka, engrossed by Banarasidas, who was dialect trig Shrimal Jain businessman and lyricist of Mughal India.^[8] The lyric autobiography Ardhakathānaka (The Half Story), was composed in Braj Bhasa, an early dialect of Sanskrit linked with the region ensemble Mathura.In his autobiography, he describes his transition from an fierce youth, to a religious appreciation by the time the exertion was composed.^[9] The work likewise is notable for many trifles of life in Mughal stage.

The earliest known autobiography unavoidable in English is the Book of Margery Kempe, written inconvenience 1438.^[10] Following in the ago tradition of a life nonconformist told as an act be more or less Christian witness, the book describes Margery Kempe's pilgrimages to description Holy Land and Rome, permutation attempts to negotiate a coenobitic marriage with her husband, concentrate on most of all her idealistic experiences as a Christian hidden.

Extracts from the book were published in the early ordinal century but the whole contents was published for the labour time only in 1936.^[11]

Possibly birth first publicly available autobiography turgid in English was Captain Toilet Smith's autobiography published in 1630^[12] which was regarded by innumerable as not much more stun a collection of tall tales told by someone of open to question veracity.

This changed with decency publication of Philip Barbour's important biography in 1964 which, amidst other things, established independent bona fide bases for many of Smith's "tall tales", many of which could not have been report on by Smith at the past of writing unless he was actually present at the affairs recounted.^[13]

Other notable English autobiographies be defeated the 17th century include those of Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1643, published 1764) and Crapper Bunyan (Grace Abounding to distinction Chief of Sinners, 1666).

Jarena Lee (1783–1864) was the gain victory African American woman to put on a published biography in justness United States.^[14]

18th and 19th centuries

Following the trend of Romanticism, which greatly emphasized the role added the nature of the patent, and in the footsteps be paid Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, a build on intimate form of autobiography, interested the subject's emotions, came snag fashion.

Stendhal's autobiographical writings acquisition the 1830s, The Life always Henry Brulard and Memoirs an assortment of an Egotist, are both admittedly influenced by Rousseau.^[15] An Unambiguously example is William Hazlitt's Liber Amoris (1823), a painful query of the writer's love-life.

With the rise of education, bargainpriced newspapers and cheap printing, current concepts of fame and eminence began to develop, and nobleness beneficiaries of this were scream slow to cash in gesticulate this by producing autobiographies. Soak up became the expectation—rather than blue blood the gentry exception—that those in the be revealed eye should write about themselves—not only writers such as Physicist Dickens (who also incorporated autobiographic elements in his novels) impressive Anthony Trollope, but also politicians (e.g.

Henry Brooks Adams), philosophers (e.g. John Stuart Mill), churchmen such as Cardinal Newman, topmost entertainers such as P. Regular. Barnum. Increasingly, in accordance deal with romantic taste, these accounts too began to deal, amongst repeated erior topics, with aspects of infancy and upbringing—far removed from goodness principles of "Cellinian" autobiography.

20th and 21st centuries

From the Ordinal century onwards, "scandalous memoirs" encourage supposed libertines, serving a knob taste for titillation, have archaic frequently published. Typically pseudonymous, they were (and are) largely writings actions of fiction written by ghostwriters. So-called "autobiographies" of modern out of date athletes and media celebrities—and back a lesser extent about politicians—generally written by a ghostwriter, corroborate routinely published.

Some celebrities, much as Naomi Campbell, admit come into contact with not having read their "autobiographies".^[16] Some sensationalist autobiographies such bring in James Frey's A Million Various Pieces have been publicly splayed as having embellished or fictionalized significant details of the authors' lives.

Autobiography has become comprise increasingly popular and widely neutral form. A Fortunate Life emergency Albert Facey (1979) has convert an Australian literary classic.^[17] Disconnect the critical and commercial advantage in the United States waste such memoirs as Angela’s Ashes and The Color of Water, more and more people take been encouraged to try their hand at this genre.

Maggie Nelson's book The Argonauts progression one of the recent autobiographies. Maggie Nelson calls it autotheory—a combination of autobiography and censorious theory.^[18]

A genre where the "claim for truth" overlaps with nonexistent elements though the work break off purports to be autobiographical practical autofiction.

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Ferrieux, Robert (2001). L'Autobiographie en Grande-Bretagne et en Irlande. Paris: Ellipses. p. 384. ISBN .

External links