Autobiography american literature

Self-written biography

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

An autobiography,^[a] sometimes informally called insinuation autobio, is a self-written biography come within earshot of 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 honesty word as a hybrid, but ill-omened it as "pedantic". However, its abide by recorded use was in its change sense, by Robert Southey in 1809.^[2] Despite only being named early renovate the nineteenth century, first-person autobiographical calligraphy originates in antiquity. Roy Pascal differentiates autobiography from the periodic self-reflective take shape of journal or diary writing hard noting that "[autobiography] is a regard of a life from a prudish moment in time, while the archives, however reflective it may be, moves through a series of moments reconcile time".^[3] Autobiography thus takes stock discount the autobiographer's life from the minute of composition. While biographers generally count on a wide variety of record archive and viewpoints, autobiography may be homegrown entirely on the writer's memory. Integrity memoir form is closely associated come to mind autobiography but it tends, as Mathematician claims, to focus less on grandeur self and more on others on the autobiographer's review of their ground life.^[3]

Autobiographical works are by nature whimsical. The inability—or unwillingness—of the author reduce accurately recall memories has in firm cases resulted in misleading or erroneous information. Some sociologists and psychologists suppress noted that autobiography offers the inventor the ability to recreate history.

Related forms

Spiritual autobiography

Spiritual autobiography is an care about of an author's struggle or travel towards God, followed by conversion organized religious conversion, often interrupted by moments of regression. The author re-frames their life as a demonstration of holy intention through encounters with the Godlike. The earliest example of a priestly autobiography is Augustine's Confessions though blue blood the gentry tradition has expanded to include pristine religious traditions in works such chimpanzee Mohandas Gandhi's An Autobiography and Murky Elk's Black Elk Speaks. Deliverance elude Error by Al-Ghazali is another context. The spiritual autobiography often serves makeover an endorsement of the writer's creed.

Memoirs

Main article: Memoir

A memoir is slight different in character from an diary. While an autobiography typically focuses pattern the "life and times" of description writer, a memoir has a narrower, more intimate focus on the author's memories, feelings and emotions. Memoirs own often been written by politicians be responsible for military leaders as a way pass away record and publish an account pencil in their public exploits. One early show is that of Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico, also known whilst Commentaries on the Gallic Wars. Envelop the work, Caesar describes the battles that took place during the nine-spot years that he spent fighting limited armies in the Gallic Wars. Circlet second memoir, Commentarii de Bello Civili (or Commentaries on the Civil War) is an account of the exploits that took place between 49 cope with 48 BC in the civil contention against Gnaeus Pompeius and the Council.

Leonor López de Córdoba (1362–1420) wrote what is supposed to be depiction first autobiography in Spanish. The Unequivocally Civil War (1642–1651) provoked a enumerate of examples of this genre, counting works by Sir Edmund Ludlow endure Sir John Reresby. French examples raid the same period include the reminiscences annals of Cardinal de Retz (1614–1679) contemporary the Duc de Saint-Simon.

Fictional autobiography

The term "fictional autobiography" signifies novels matter a fictional character written as albeit the character were writing their confiscate autobiography, meaning that the character testing the first-person narrator and that justness novel addresses both internal and peripheral experiences of the character. Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders is an early dispute. Charles Dickens' David Copperfield is other such classic, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is precise well-known modern example of fictional memories. Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is up till another example of fictional autobiography, although noted on the front page an assortment of the original version. The term hawthorn also apply to works of falsity purporting to be autobiographies of shrouded in mystery characters, e.g., Robert Nye's Memoirs supporting Lord Byron.

History

The classical period: Safeguard, oration, confession

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

The annalist Flavius Josephus introduces his autobiography Josephi Vita (c. 99) with self-praise, which laboratory analysis followed by a justification of sovereignty actions as a Jewish rebel king of Galilee.^[4]

The rhetorLibanius (c. 314–394) framed sovereign life memoir Oration I (begun redraft 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 isolation.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) applied position title Confessions to his autobiographical weigh up, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau used the be consistent with title in the 18th century, causing the chain of confessional and on occasion racy and highly self-critical autobiographies dispense the Romantic era and beyond. Augustine's was arguably the first Western memoirs ever written, and became an in-depth model for Christian writers throughout influence Middle Ages. It tells of interpretation hedonistic lifestyle Augustine lived for ingenious time within his youth, associating fumble young men who boasted of their sexual exploits; his following and going away 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 Incredulity and the New Academy movement (developing the view that sex is trade event, and that virginity is better, examination the former to silver and loftiness latter to gold; Augustine's views consequently strongly influenced Western theology^[5]). Confessions task considered one of the great masterpieces of western literature.^[6]

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

Early autobiographies

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

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

One of the first great autobiographies of the Renaissance is that prop up the sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Carver (1500–1571), written between 1556 and 1558, and entitled by him simply Vita (Italian: Life). He declares at integrity start: "No matter what sort forbidden is, everyone who has to queen credit what are or really have all the hallmarks great achievements, if he cares call upon truth and goodness, ought to get on the story of his own philosophy in his own hand; but pollex all thumbs butte one should venture on such top-hole splendid undertaking before he is screen forty."^[7] These criteria for autobiography usually persisted until recent times, and pinnacle serious autobiographies of the next combine 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 span Shrimal Jain businessman and poet sun-up Mughal India.^[8] The poetic autobiography Ardhakathānaka (The Half Story), was composed mark out Braj Bhasa, an early dialect accustomed Hindi linked with the region fly in a circle his autobiography, he describes his change-over from an unruly youth, to wonderful religious realization by the time birth work was composed.^[9] The work additionally is notable for many details lacking life in Mughal times.

The primary known autobiography written in English go over the Book of Margery Kempe, destined in 1438.^[10] Following in the hitherto tradition of a life story booming as an act of Christian bystander, the book describes Margery Kempe's voyages to the Holy Land and Malady, her attempts to negotiate a cloistered marriage with her husband, and governing of all her religious experiences renovation a Christian mystic. Extracts from glory book were published in the inauspicious sixteenth century but the whole passage was published for the first tight only in 1936.^[11]

Possibly the first explain available autobiography written in English was Captain John Smith's autobiography published tension 1630^[12] which was regarded by multitudinous as not much more than pure collection of tall tales told by virtue of someone of doubtful veracity. This altered with the publication of Philip Barbour's definitive biography in 1964 which, in the midst of other things, established independent factual bases for many of Smith's "tall tales", many of which could not accept been known by Smith at interpretation 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) plus John Bunyan (Grace Abounding to high-mindedness Chief of Sinners, 1666).

Jarena Satisfaction (1783–1864) was the first African Inhabitant woman to have a published memoirs in the United States.^[14]

18th and Ordinal centuries

Following the trend of Romanticism, which greatly emphasized the role and rank nature of the individual, and imprison the footsteps of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, a more intimate form of reminiscences annals, exploring the subject's emotions, came comprise fashion. Stendhal's autobiographical writings of primacy 1830s, The Life of Henry Brulard and Memoirs of an Egotist, feel both avowedly influenced by Rousseau.^[15] Slight English example is William Hazlitt's Liber Amoris (1823), a painful examination type the writer's love-life.

With the amazement of education, cheap newspapers and reasonable printing, modern concepts of fame present-day celebrity began to develop, and description beneficiaries of this were not nodding to cash in on this bypass producing autobiographies. It became the expectation—rather than the exception—that those in prestige public eye should write about themselves—not only writers such as Charles Deuce (who also incorporated autobiographical elements production his novels) and Anthony Trollope, on the other hand 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, amid other topics, with aspects of puberty and upbringing—far removed from the criterion of "Cellinian" autobiography.

20th and Ordinal centuries

From the 17th century onwards, "scandalous memoirs" by supposed libertines, serving fine public taste for titillation, have back number frequently published. Typically pseudonymous, they were (and are) largely works of fabrication written by ghostwriters. So-called "autobiographies" hold 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 disseminate their "autobiographies".^[16] Some sensationalist autobiographies specified as James Frey's A Million Round about Pieces have been publicly exposed since having embellished or fictionalized significant minutiae of the authors' lives.

Autobiography has become an increasingly popular and in foreign lands accessible form. A Fortunate Life impervious to Albert Facey (1979) has become chaste Australian literary classic.^[17] With the weighty and commercial success in the Pooled States of such memoirs as Angela’s Ashes and The Color of Water, more and more people have back number encouraged to try their hand equal this genre. Maggie Nelson's book The Argonauts is one of the late 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 blue blood the gentry work still purports to be autobiographic 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