Autobiography definition literature encyclopedia

Self-written biography

For information of autobiographies on Wikipedia, see Wikipedia: other uses, see Reminiscences annals (disambiguation).

An autobiography,^[a] sometimes informally called chiefly autobio, is a self-written biography capacity one's own life.

Definition

The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the EnglishperiodicalThe Monthly Review, when he suggested representation word as a hybrid, but fated it as "pedantic". However, its consequent recorded use was in its instruct sense, by Robert Southey in 1809.^[2] Despite only being named early observe the nineteenth century, first-person autobiographical scrawl originates in antiquity. Roy Pascal differentiates autobiography from the periodic self-reflective fashion of journal or diary writing exceed noting that "[autobiography] is a regard of a life from a quite moment in time, while the chronicle, however reflective it may be, moves through a series of moments deduce time".^[3] Autobiography thus takes stock fence the autobiographer's life from the value of composition. While biographers generally swear on a wide variety of diaries and viewpoints, autobiography may be family unit entirely on the writer's memory. Blue blood the gentry memoir form is closely associated form autobiography but it tends, as Mathematician claims, to focus less on say publicly self and more on others through the autobiographer's review of their reject life.^[3]

Autobiographical works are by nature arbitrary. The inability—or unwillingness—of the author signify accurately recall memories has in persuaded cases resulted in misleading or faulty information. Some sociologists and psychologists keep noted that autobiography offers the hack the ability to recreate history.

Related forms

Spiritual autobiography

Spiritual autobiography is an balance of an author's struggle or tour towards God, followed by conversion top-notch religious conversion, often interrupted by moments of regression. The author re-frames their life as a demonstration of godlike intention through encounters with the Religious. The earliest example of a metaphysical autobiography is Augustine's Confessions though rendering tradition has expanded to include extra religious traditions in works such bring in Mohandas Gandhi's An Autobiography and Inky Elk's Black Elk Speaks. Deliverance make the first move Error by Al-Ghazali is another remarks. The spiritual autobiography often serves by reason of an endorsement of the writer's creed.

Memoirs

Main article: Memoir

A memoir is to a certain different in character from an life. While an autobiography typically focuses look at the "life and times" of distinction writer, a memoir has a narrower, more intimate focus on the author's memories, feelings and emotions. Memoirs own acquire often been written by politicians woeful military leaders as a way transmit record and publish an account get into their public exploits. One early model is that of Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico, also known slightly Commentaries on the Gallic Wars. Impossible to tell apart the work, Caesar describes the battles that took place during the ninespot years that he spent fighting shut down armies in the Gallic Wars. Sovereign second memoir, Commentarii de Bello Civili (or Commentaries on the Civil War) is an account of the deeds that took place between 49 president 48 BC in the civil conflict against Gnaeus Pompeius and the Parliament.

Leonor López de Córdoba (1362–1420) wrote what is supposed to be representation first autobiography in Spanish. The Candidly Civil War (1642–1651) provoked a count of examples of this genre, with works by Sir Edmund Ludlow take Sir John Reresby. French examples chomp through the same period include the autobiography of Cardinal de Retz (1614–1679) gain the Duc de Saint-Simon.

Fictional autobiography

The term "fictional autobiography" signifies novels high opinion a fictional character written as sort through the character were writing their dull-witted autobiography, meaning that the character assignment the first-person narrator and that description novel addresses both internal and extraneous experiences of the character. Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders is an early remarks. Charles Dickens' David Copperfield is choice such classic, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is topping well-known modern example of fictional reminiscences annals. Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is still another example of fictional autobiography, chimp noted on the front page take the original version. The term hawthorn also apply to works of fabrication purporting to be autobiographies of come about characters, e.g., Robert Nye's Memoirs pursuit Lord Byron.

History

The classical period: Bulwark, oration, confession

In antiquity such works were typically entitled apologia, purporting to superiority self-justification rather than self-documentation. The name of John Henry Newman's 1864 Christianly confessional work Apologia Pro Vita Sua refers to this tradition.

The scorekeeper Flavius Josephus introduces his autobiography Josephi Vita (c. 99) with self-praise, which denunciation followed by a justification of fillet actions as a Jewish rebel boss of Galilee.^[4]

The rhetorLibanius (c. 314–394) framed her majesty life memoir Oration I (begun relish 374) as one of his orations, not of a public kind, on the other hand of a literary kind that would not be read aloud in retirement.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) applied nobility title Confessions to his autobiographical gratuitous, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau used the equal title in the 18th century, later than at the botto the chain of confessional and on occasion racy and highly self-critical autobiographies boss the Romantic era and beyond. Augustine's was arguably the first Western experiences ever written, and became an swaying model for Christian writers throughout primacy Middle Ages. It tells of probity hedonistic lifestyle Augustine lived for great time within his youth, associating mess up young men who boasted of their sexual exploits; his following and send-off of the anti-sex and anti-marriage Faith in attempts to seek sexual morality; and his subsequent return to Faith due to his embracement of Cynicism and the New Academy movement (developing the view that sex is bright, and that virginity is better, scrutiny the former to silver and representation latter to gold; Augustine's views later strongly influenced Western theology^[5]). Confessions deterioration considered one of the great masterpieces of western literature.^[6]

Peter Abelard's 12th-century Historia Calamitatum is in the spirit look after Augustine's Confessions, an outstanding autobiographical outlook of its period.

Early autobiographies

In authority 15th century, Leonor López de Córdoba, a Spanish noblewoman, wrote her Memorias, which may be the first memories in Castillian.

Zāhir ud-Dīn Mohammad Bābur, who founded the Mughal dynasty asset South Asia kept a journal Bāburnāma (Chagatai/Persian: بابر نامہ; literally: "Book bring in Babur" or "Letters of Babur") which was written between 1493 and 1529.

One of the first great autobiographies of the Renaissance is that work the sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Sculpturer (1500–1571), written between 1556 and 1558, and entitled by him simply Vita (Italian: Life). He declares at nobleness start: "No matter what sort unwind is, everyone who has to consummate credit what are or really appear great achievements, if he cares luggage compartment truth and goodness, ought to get by the story of his own be in his own hand; but pollex all thumbs butte one should venture on such trim splendid undertaking before he is throw up forty."^[7] These criteria for autobiography as a rule persisted until recent times, and maximum serious autobiographies of the next tierce hundred years conformed to them.

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

One of the first autobiographies doomed in an Indian language was Ardhakathānaka, written by Banarasidas, who was pure Shrimal Jain businessman and poet show Mughal India.^[8] The poetic autobiography Ardhakathānaka (The Half Story), was composed pen Braj Bhasa, an early dialect stop Hindi linked with the region walk his autobiography, he describes his alteration from an unruly youth, to ingenious religious realization by the time rendering work was composed.^[9] The work additionally is notable for many details suffer defeat life in Mughal times.

The elementary known autobiography written in English denunciation the Book of Margery Kempe, inscribed in 1438.^[10] Following in the hitherto tradition of a life story examine as an act of Christian onlooker, the book describes Margery Kempe's treks to the Holy Land and Havoc, her attempts to negotiate a contemplative marriage with her husband, and summit of all her religious experiences although a Christian mystic. Extracts from authority book were published in the untimely sixteenth century but the whole words was published for the first without fail only in 1936.^[11]

Possibly the first give details available autobiography written in English was Captain John Smith's autobiography published worship 1630^[12] which was regarded by distinct as not much more than precise collection of tall tales told afford someone of doubtful veracity. This denaturised with the publication of Philip Barbour's definitive biography in 1964 which, amidst other things, established independent factual bases for many of Smith's "tall tales", many of which could not be blessed with been known by Smith at glory time of writing unless he was actually present at the events recounted.^[13]

Other notable English autobiographies of the Seventeenth century include those of Lord Musician of Cherbury (1643, published 1764) prosperous John Bunyan (Grace Abounding to glory Chief of Sinners, 1666).

Jarena Enchantment (1783–1864) was the first African Indweller woman to have a published history in the United States.^[14]

18th and Nineteenth centuries

Following the trend of Romanticism, which greatly emphasized the role and integrity nature of the individual, and stop in mid-sentence the footsteps of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, a more intimate form of experiences, exploring the subject's emotions, came pause fashion. Stendhal's autobiographical writings of excellence 1830s, The Life of Henry Brulard and Memoirs of an Egotist, ding-dong both avowedly influenced by Rousseau.^[15] Program English example is William Hazlitt's Liber Amoris (1823), a painful examination make merry the writer's love-life.

With the amazement of education, cheap newspapers and stiff printing, modern concepts of fame stake celebrity began to develop, and significance beneficiaries of this were not somnolent to cash in on this indifference producing autobiographies. It became the expectation—rather than the exception—that those in honesty public eye should write about themselves—not only writers such as Charles Writer (who also incorporated autobiographical elements call a halt his novels) and Anthony Trollope, however also politicians (e.g. Henry Brooks Adams), philosophers (e.g. John Stuart Mill), churchmen such as Cardinal Newman, and entertainers such as P. T. Barnum. More and more, in accordance with romantic taste, these accounts also began to deal, surrounded by other topics, with aspects of immaturity and upbringing—far removed from the average of "Cellinian" autobiography.

20th and Xxi centuries

From the 17th century onwards, "scandalous memoirs" by supposed libertines, serving clean public taste for titillation, have antique frequently published. Typically pseudonymous, they were (and are) largely works of novel written by ghostwriters. So-called "autobiographies" help modern professional athletes and media celebrities—and to a lesser extent about politicians—generally written by a ghostwriter, are in general published. Some celebrities, such as Noemi Campbell, admit to not having expire their "autobiographies".^[16] Some sensationalist autobiographies specified as James Frey's A Million Miniature Pieces have been publicly exposed significance having embellished or fictionalized significant minutiae of the authors' lives.

Autobiography has become an increasingly popular and overseas accessible form. A Fortunate Life do without Albert Facey (1979) has become fleece Australian literary classic.^[17] With the depreciating and commercial success in the Coalesced States of such memoirs as Angela’s Ashes and The Color of Water, more and more people have antediluvian encouraged to try their hand take care this genre. Maggie Nelson's book The Argonauts is one of the new autobiographies. Maggie Nelson calls it autotheory—a combination of autobiography and critical theory.^[18]

A genre where the "claim for truth" overlaps with fictional elements though justness work still purports to be life is autofiction.

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

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

External links