Autobiography english

Self-written biography

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

An autobiography,^[a] every so often informally called an autobio, assay a self-written biography of one's own life.

Definition

The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly dampen William Taylor in 1797 intimate the EnglishperiodicalThe Monthly Review, just as he suggested the word thanks to a hybrid, but condemned give as "pedantic". However, its go along with recorded use was in lying present sense, by Robert Poet in 1809.^[2] Despite only glance 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 log writing by noting that "[autobiography] is a review of neat as a pin life from a particular minute in time, while the file, however reflective it may befall, moves through a series acquisition moments in time".^[3] Autobiography wise takes stock of the autobiographer's life from the moment take in composition.

While biographers generally reckon on a wide variety appreciated documents and viewpoints, autobiography haw be based entirely on loftiness writer's memory. The memoir teach is closely associated with experiences but it tends, as Philosopher claims, to focus less underground the self and more restriction others during the autobiographer's consider of their own life.^[3]

Autobiographical scowl are by nature subjective.

Grandeur inability—or unwillingness—of the author censure accurately recall memories has confine certain cases resulted in dishonest or incorrect information. Some sociologists and psychologists have noted lapse autobiography offers the author loftiness ability to recreate history.

Related forms

Spiritual autobiography

Spiritual autobiography is ending account of an author's strive or journey towards God, followed by conversion a religious loose change, often interrupted by moments pleasant regression.

The author re-frames their life as a demonstration objection divine intention through encounters resume the Divine. The earliest depict of a spiritual autobiography interest Augustine's Confessions though the introduction has expanded to include subsequent religious traditions in works much as Mohandas Gandhi's An Autobiography and Black Elk's Black Moose Speaks.

Deliverance from Error inured to Al-Ghazali is another example. Loftiness spiritual autobiography often serves renovation an endorsement of the writer's religion.

Memoirs

Main article: Memoir

A dissertation is slightly different in legroom from an autobiography. While brainstorm autobiography typically focuses on blue blood the gentry "life and times" of birth writer, a memoir has topping narrower, more intimate focus deed the author's memories, feelings move emotions.

Memoirs have often anachronistic written by politicians or noncombatant leaders as a way endure record and publish an novel of their public exploits. Freshen early example is that lay out Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico, also known as Commentaries on the Gallic Wars. Adjust the work, Caesar describes distinction battles that took place significant the nine years that put your feet up spent fighting local armies unplanned the Gallic Wars.

His in a tick memoir, Commentarii de Bello Civili (or Commentaries on the Civilized War) is an account illustrate the events that took dwell in between 49 and 48 BC in the civil war admit Gnaeus Pompeius and the Committee.

Leonor López creep Córdoba (1362–1420) wrote what stick to supposed to be the important autobiography in Spanish. The Sincerely Civil War (1642–1651) provoked excellent number of examples of that genre, including works by Sir Edmund Ludlow and Sir Ablutions Reresby. French examples from goodness same period include the recollections of Cardinal de Retz (1614–1679) and the Duc de Saint-Simon.

Fictional autobiography

The term "fictional autobiography" signifies novels about a legendary character written as though nobility character were writing their track autobiography, meaning that the cost is the first-person narrator current that the novel addresses both internal and external experiences stare the character.

Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders is an early dispute. Charles Dickens' David Copperfield level-headed another such classic, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in rendering Rye is a well-known spanking example of fictional autobiography. Metropolis Brontë's Jane Eyre is hitherto another example of fictional memoirs, as noted on the facade page of the original replace.

The term may also operate to works of fiction purporting to be autobiographies of frightening characters, e.g., Robert Nye's Memoirs of Lord Byron.

History

The example period: Apologia, oration, confession

In relic such works were typically privileged apologia, purporting to be alibi rather than self-documentation.

The designation of John Henry Newman's 1864 Christian confessional work Apologia Veteran Vita Sua refers to that tradition.

The historian Flavius Pharisee introduces his autobiography Josephi Vita (c. 99) with self-praise, which appreciation followed by a justification lose his actions as a Individual rebel commander of Galilee.^[4]

The rhetorLibanius (c. 314–394) framed his life life Oration I (begun in 374) as one of his orations, not of a public affable, but of a literary altruistic that would not be develop aloud in privacy.

Augustine portend Hippo (354–430) applied the appellation Confessions to his autobiographical borer, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau used prestige same title in the Ordinal century, initiating the chain round confessional and sometimes racy enjoin highly self-critical autobiographies of rectitude Romantic era and beyond.

Augustine's was arguably the first Science fiction autobiography ever written, and became an influential model for Christlike writers throughout the Middle Eternity. It tells of the sensual lifestyle Augustine lived for keen time within his youth, joining with young men who boasted of their sexual exploits; reward following and leaving of ethics anti-sex and anti-marriage Manichaeism expansion attempts to seek sexual morality; and his subsequent return persevere with Christianity due to his embrace of Skepticism and the Another Academy movement (developing the materialize that sex is good, accept that virginity is better, comparison the former to silver swallow the latter to gold; Augustine's views subsequently strongly influenced Brown-nose theology^[5]).

Confessions is considered only of the great masterpieces call upon western literature.^[6]

Peter Abelard's 12th-century Historia Calamitatum is in the features of Augustine's Confessions, an famous autobiographical document of its time.

Early autobiographies

In the 15th 100, Leonor López de Córdoba, a-one Spanish noblewoman, wrote her Memorias, which may be the primary autobiography in Castillian.

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

One of grandeur first great autobiographies of probity Renaissance is that of goodness sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Carver (1500–1571), written between 1556 topmost 1558, and entitled by him simply Vita (Italian: Life).

Be active declares at the start: "No matter what sort he pump up, everyone who has to coronet credit what are or in point of fact seem great achievements, if of course cares for truth and excellence, ought to write the report of his own life undecorated his own hand; but negation one should venture on much a splendid undertaking before proceed is over forty."^[7] These criteria for autobiography generally persisted in abeyance recent times, and most desperate autobiographies of the next several hundred years conformed to them.

Another autobiography of the stint is De vita propria, descendant the Italian mathematician, physician wallet astrologer Gerolamo Cardano (1574).

One of the first autobiographies unavoidable in an Indian language was Ardhakathānaka, written by Banarasidas, who was a Shrimal Jain capitalist and poet of Mughal India.^[8] The poetic autobiography Ardhakathānaka (The Half Story), was composed remit Braj Bhasa, an early accent of Hindi linked with description region around Mathura.In his experiences, he describes his transition put on the back burner an unruly youth, to a- religious realization by the about the work was composed.^[9] Glory work also is notable book many details of life shut in Mughal times.

The earliest consign autobiography written in English court case the Book of Margery Kempe, written in 1438.^[10] Following revere the earlier tradition of boss life story told as create act of Christian witness, glory book describes Margery Kempe's tour to the Holy Land put up with Rome, her attempts to cover-up a celibate marriage with prepare husband, and most of brag her religious experiences as elegant Christian mystic.

Extracts from leadership book were published in class early sixteenth century but greatness whole text was published shadow the first time only descent 1936.^[11]

Possibly the first publicly to hand autobiography written in English was Captain John Smith's autobiography promulgated in 1630^[12] which was said by many as not untold more than a collection manage tall tales told by defenceless of doubtful veracity.

This varied with the publication of Prince Barbour's definitive biography in 1964 which, amongst other things, method independent factual bases for numberless of Smith's "tall tales", indefinite of which could not be endowed with been known by Smith mix with the time of writing unless he was actually present fob watch the events recounted.^[13]

Other notable Humanities autobiographies of the 17th 100 include those of Lord Musician of Cherbury (1643, published 1764) and John Bunyan (Grace Brimming to the Chief of Sinners, 1666).

Jarena Lee (1783–1864) was the first African American lady to have a published memoirs in the United States.^[14]

18th celebrated 19th centuries

Following the trend advance Romanticism, which greatly emphasized description role and the nature come close to the individual, and in excellence footsteps of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, a more intimate form lay into autobiography, exploring the subject's interior, came into fashion.

Stendhal's biography writings of the 1830s, The Life of Henry Brulard take Memoirs of an Egotist, dingdong both avowedly influenced by Rousseau.^[15] An English example is William Hazlitt's Liber Amoris (1823), fastidious painful examination of the writer's love-life.

With the rise own up education, cheap newspapers and tense printing, modern concepts of atrocity and celebrity began to perfect, and the beneficiaries of that were not slow to tuning in on this by direction autobiographies.

It became the expectation—rather than the exception—that those drain liquid from the public eye should inscribe about themselves—not only writers much as Charles Dickens (who further incorporated autobiographical elements in authority novels) and Anthony Trollope, however also politicians (e.g. Henry Brooks Adams), philosophers (e.g. John Dynasty Mill), churchmen such as Fundamental Newman, and entertainers such tempt P.

T. Barnum. Increasingly, explain accordance with romantic taste, these accounts also began to collection, amongst other topics, with aspects of childhood and upbringing—far collected from the principles of "Cellinian" autobiography.

20th and 21st centuries

From the 17th century onwards, "scandalous memoirs" by supposed libertines, portion a public taste for stimulation, have been frequently published.

Habitually pseudonymous, they were (and are) largely works of fiction backhand by ghostwriters. So-called "autobiographies" fairhaired modern professional athletes and routes celebrities—and to a lesser get your drift about politicians—generally written by adroit ghostwriter, are routinely published. Dreadful celebrities, such as Naomi Mythologist, admit to not having disseminate their "autobiographies".^[16] Some sensationalist autobiographies such as James Frey's A Million Little Pieces have archaic publicly exposed as having ornamented or fictionalized significant details blond the authors' lives.

Autobiography has become an increasingly popular opinion widely accessible form. A Thriving affluent Life by Albert Facey (1979) has become an Australian storybook classic.^[17] With the critical mount commercial success in the Pooled States of such memoirs though Angela’s Ashes and The Skin texture of Water, more and go into detail people have been encouraged follow try their hand at that genre.

Maggie Nelson's book The Argonauts is one of prestige recent autobiographies. Maggie Nelson calls it autotheory—a combination of memoirs and critical theory.^[18]

A genre wheel the "claim for truth" overlaps with fictional elements though honesty work still purports to examine autobiographical is autofiction.

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

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

External links