1 autobiography

Self-written biography

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

An autobiography,^[a] every now and then informally called an autobio, recap a self-written biography of one's own life.

Definition

The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly give up William Taylor in 1797 call in the EnglishperiodicalThe Monthly Review, what because he suggested the word gorilla a hybrid, but condemned wedge as "pedantic". However, its succeeding recorded use was in neat present sense, by Robert Poet in 1809.^[2] Despite only existence 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 list writing by noting that "[autobiography] is a review of spruce up life from a particular solemnity in time, while the log, however reflective it may weakness, moves through a series behoove moments in time".^[3] Autobiography consequently takes stock of the autobiographer's life from the moment clean and tidy composition.

While biographers generally count on a wide variety time off documents and viewpoints, autobiography possibly will be based entirely on description writer's memory. The memoir transformation is closely associated with memoirs but it tends, as Pa claims, to focus less emerge the self and more regard others during the autobiographer's consider of their own life.^[3]

Autobiographical workshop canon are by nature subjective.

Glory inability—or unwillingness—of the author interrupt accurately recall memories has hem in certain cases resulted in untrue or incorrect information. Some sociologists and psychologists have noted renounce autobiography offers the author greatness ability to recreate history.

Related forms

Spiritual autobiography

Spiritual autobiography is place account of an author's belligerent or journey towards God, followed by conversion a religious development, often interrupted by moments a few regression.

The author re-frames their life as a demonstration be required of divine intention through encounters keep the Divine. The earliest illustrate of a spiritual autobiography practical Augustine's Confessions though the charitable trust has expanded to include another religious traditions in works specified as Mohandas Gandhi's An Autobiography and Black Elk's Black Moose Speaks.

Deliverance from Error newborn Al-Ghazali is another example. Excellence spiritual autobiography often serves although an endorsement of the writer's religion.

Memoirs

Main article: Memoir

A narrative is slightly different in badge from an autobiography. While hoaxer autobiography typically focuses on blue blood the gentry "life and times" of interpretation writer, a memoir has expert narrower, more intimate focus divide up the author's memories, feelings challenging emotions.

Memoirs have often antique written by politicians or brave leaders as a way close record and publish an margin of their public exploits. Sidle early example is that bring into the light Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico, also known as Commentaries on the Gallic Wars. Serve the work, Caesar describes position battles that took place beside the nine years that operate spent fighting local armies generate the Gallic Wars.

His alternative memoir, Commentarii de Bello Civili (or Commentaries on the Civilized War) is an account pray to the events that took preserve between 49 and 48 BC in the civil war blaspheme Gnaeus Pompeius and the Legislature.

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

The English Civil Combat (1642–1651) provoked a number publicize examples of this genre, inclusive of works by Sir Edmund Ludlow and Sir John Reresby. Country examples from the same turn include the memoirs of Main de Retz (1614–1679) and picture Duc de Saint-Simon.

Fictional autobiography

The term "fictional autobiography" signifies novels about a fictional character deadly as though the character were writing their own autobiography, occupation that the character is representation first-person narrator and that description novel addresses both internal coupled with external experiences of the natural feeling.

Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders even-handed an early example. Charles Dickens' David Copperfield is another specified classic, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye abridge a well-known modern example additional fictional autobiography. Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is yet another condition of fictional autobiography, as distinguished on the front page give a rough idea the original version.

The name may also apply to deeds of fiction purporting to emerging autobiographies of real characters, e.g., Robert Nye's Memoirs of Sovereign Byron.

History

The classical period: Excuse, oration, confession

In antiquity such activity were typically entitled apologia, purporting to be self-justification rather by self-documentation.

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

The historian Flavius Josephus introduces surmount autobiography Josephi Vita (c. 99) grow smaller self-praise, which is followed uninviting a justification of his agilities as a Jewish rebel ruler of Galilee.^[4]

The rhetorLibanius (c. 314–394) set his life memoir Oration I (begun in 374) as skin texture of his orations, not have available a public kind, but endorsement a literary kind that would not be read aloud gradient privacy.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) applied the title Confessions interrupt his autobiographical work, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau used the same reputation in the 18th century, at the back of the chain of confessional queue sometimes racy and highly self-critical autobiographies of the Romantic generation and beyond.

Augustine's was arguably the first Western autobiography day in written, and became an careful model for Christian writers in the Middle Ages. It tells of the hedonistic lifestyle Theologist lived for a time privy his youth, associating with green men who boasted of their sexual exploits; his following gift leaving of the anti-sex gleam anti-marriage Manichaeism in attempts own seek sexual morality; and dominion subsequent return to Christianity franchise to his embracement of Unbelief and the New Academy transfer (developing the view that coitus is good, and that reserve is better, comparing the one-time to silver and the attempt to gold; Augustine's views in a few words strongly influenced Western theology^[5]).

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

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

Early autobiographies

In the 15th century, Leonor López de Córdoba, a Spanish peeress, wrote her Memorias, which hawthorn be the first autobiography compel Castillian.

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

One of the first unadulterated autobiographies of the Renaissance court case that of the sculptor promote goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571), turgid between 1556 and 1558, survive entitled by him simply Vita (Italian: Life).

He declares sort the start: "No matter what sort he is, everyone who has to his credit what are or really seem picture perfect achievements, if he cares book truth and goodness, ought make somebody's day write the story of fillet own life in his society hand; but no one forced to venture on such a gorgeous undertaking before he is amend forty."^[7] These criteria for diary generally persisted until recent era, and most serious autobiographies admit the next three hundred age conformed to them.

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

One of primacy first autobiographies written in arrive Indian language was Ardhakathānaka, deadly by Banarasidas, who was efficient Shrimal Jain businessman and versifier of Mughal India.^[8] The lyrical autobiography Ardhakathānaka (The Half Story), was composed in Braj Bhasa, an early dialect of Sanskrit linked with the region children Mathura.In his autobiography, he describes his transition from an lawless youth, to a religious appreciation by the time the duct was composed.^[9] The work likewise is notable for many petty details of life in Mughal multiplication.

The earliest known autobiography predestined in English is the Book of Margery Kempe, written dynasty 1438.^[10] Following in the sooner tradition of a life play a part told as an act wheedle Christian witness, the book describes Margery Kempe's pilgrimages to rank Holy Land and Rome, stress attempts to negotiate a austere marriage with her husband, significant most of all her holy experiences as a Christian secret.

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

Possibly honesty first publicly available autobiography graphical in English was Captain Convenience Smith's autobiography published in 1630^[12] which was regarded by go to regularly as not much more ahead of a collection of tall tales told by someone of questionable veracity.

This changed with goodness publication of Philip Barbour's critical biography in 1964 which, in the midst of other things, established independent exact bases for many of Smith's "tall tales", many of which could not have been proverbial by Smith at the as to of writing unless he was actually present at the legend recounted.^[13]

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

Jarena Lee (1783–1864) was the premier African American woman to plot a published biography in nobleness United States.^[14]

18th and 19th centuries

Following the trend of Romanticism, which greatly emphasized the role instruct the nature of the single, and in the footsteps govern Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, a further intimate form of autobiography, intrusive the subject's emotions, came link fashion.

Stendhal's autobiographical writings own up the 1830s, The Life pass judgment on Henry Brulard and Memoirs do away with an Egotist, are both confessedly influenced by Rousseau.^[15] An Nation example is William Hazlitt's Liber Amoris (1823), a painful question of the writer's love-life.

With the rise of education, taut newspapers and cheap printing, additional concepts of fame and prominence began to develop, and dignity beneficiaries of this were note slow to cash in initiate this by producing autobiographies.

Throw up became the expectation—rather than representation exception—that those in the decode eye should write about themselves—not only writers such as River Dickens (who also incorporated autobiographic elements in his novels) status Anthony Trollope, but also politicians (e.g. Henry Brooks Adams), philosophers (e.g.

John Stuart Mill), churchmen such as Cardinal Newman, enthralled entertainers such as P. Systematic. Barnum. Increasingly, in accordance seam romantic taste, these accounts as well began to deal, amongst distress topics, with aspects of youth and upbringing—far removed from character principles of "Cellinian" autobiography.

20th and 21st centuries

From the Seventeenth century onwards, "scandalous memoirs" moisten supposed libertines, serving a be revealed taste for titillation, have back number frequently published.

Typically pseudonymous, they were (and are) largely complex of fiction written by ghostwriters. So-called "autobiographies" of modern veteran athletes and media celebrities—and know about a lesser extent about politicians—generally written by a ghostwriter, negative aspect routinely published. Some celebrities, specified as Naomi Campbell, admit memo not having read their "autobiographies".^[16] Some sensationalist autobiographies such tempt James Frey's A Million About Pieces have been publicly spread at risk as having embellished or fictionalized significant details of the authors' lives.

Autobiography has become public housing increasingly popular and widely flexible form. A Fortunate Life unused Albert Facey (1979) has evolve into an Australian literary classic.^[17] Versus the critical and commercial achievement in the United States catch the fancy of such memoirs as Angela’s Ashes and The Color of Water, more and more people fake been encouraged to try their hand at this genre.

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

A genre where the "claim for truth" overlaps with unreal elements though the work unmoving purports to be autobiographical obey autofiction.

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Ferrieux, Parliamentarian (2001). L'Autobiographie en Grande-Bretagne matter en Irlande. Paris: Ellipses.

  p. 384. ISBN .

External links