Autobiography

For other uses, see Autobiography (disambiguation). recorded use was in its present sense, by Robert Southey
For the book by Morrissey, see Autobiography (Morris- in 1809.[1] Nonetheless, autobiography as a form goes
sey). back to Antiquity. Biographers generally rely on a wide
An autobiography (from the Greek, -autos self variety of documents and viewpoints, whereas autobi-
ography may be based entirely on the writers memory.
Closely associated with autobiography (and sometimes
hard to distinguish from it) is the memoir form.
See also: List of autobiographies and Category:
Autobiographies for examples.

2 Autobiography through the ages

2.1 The classical period: Apologia, ora-

tion, confession

In antiquity such works were typically entitled apologia,

purporting to be self-justication rather than self-
documentation. John Henry Newman's autobiography
(rst published in 1864) is entitled Apologia Pro Vita Sua
in reference to this tradition.
The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus introduces his au-
tobiography (Josephi Vita, c. 99) with self-praise, which
is followed by a justication of his actions as a Jewish
rebel commander of Galilee.[2]
The pagan rhetor Libanius (c. 314394) framed his life
memoir (Oration I begun in 374) as one of his orations,
not of a public kind, but of a literary kind that could not
be aloud in privacy.
Augustine (354430) applied the title Confessions to his
autobiographical work, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau used
the same title in the 18th century, initiating the chain of
confessional and sometimes racy and highly self-critical,
Cover of the rst English edition of Benjamin Franklin's autobi- autobiographies of the Romantic era and beyond.
ography, 1793
In the spirit of Augustines Confessions is the 12th-century
Historia Calamitatum of Peter Abelard, outstanding as an
+ -bios life + -graphein to write) is a written autobiographical document of its period.
account of the life of a person written by that person. In
other words, it is a self-written life story.
2.2 Early autobiographies

1 Origin of the term The rst autobiographical work in Islamic society was
written in the late 11th century, by Abdallah ibn Bulug-
The word autobiography was rst used deprecatingly gin, last Zirid king of Granada.
by William Taylor in 1797 in the English periodical The In the 15th century, Leonor Lpez de Crdoba, a Spanish
Monthly Review, when he suggested the word as a hy- noblewoman, wrote her Memorias, which may be the rst
brid, but condemned it as pedantic. However, its next autobiography in Castillian.

1
2 2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY THROUGH THE AGES

not published until 1936.

Notable English autobiographies of the 17th century in-
clude those of Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1643, pub-
lished 1764) and John Bunyan (Grace Abounding to the
Chief of Sinners, 1666).

2.3 Memoirs
Main article: Memoir

A memoir is slightly dierent in character from an auto-

biography. While an autobiography typically focuses on
the life and times of the writer, a memoir has a nar-
rower, more intimate focus on his or her own memories,
feelings and emotions. Memoirs have often been written
by politicians or military leaders as a way to record and
publish an account of their public exploits.
One early example is that of Julius Caesar's Commentarii
de Bello Gallico, also known as Commentaries on the Gal-
lic Wars. In the work, Caesar describes the battles that
took place during the nine years that he spent ghting
local armies in the Gallic Wars. His second memoir,
Commentarii de Bello Civili (or Commentary on the Civil
War) is an account of the events that took place between
49 and 48 BC in the civil war against Gnaeus Pompeius
and the Senate.
Leonor Lpez de Crdoba (13621420) wrote what is
supposed to be the rst autobiography in Spanish. The
A scene from the Baburnama English Civil War (16421651) provoked a number of
examples of this genre, including works by Sir Edmund
Ludlow and Sir John Reresby. French examples from
Zhir ud-Dn Mohammad Bbur,who founded the the same period include the memoirs of Cardinal de Retz
Mughal dynasty of South Asia kept a journal Bburnma (16141679) and the Duc de Saint-Simon.
(Chagatai/Persian: ; literally: Book of Babur or
Letters of Babur) which was written between 1493 and
1529. 2.4 18th and 19th centuries
One of the rst great autobiographies of the Renaissance
Notable 18th-century autobiographies in Kankana-ey in-
is that of the sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini clude those of [[]] and [[]]. Following the trend of
(15001571), written between 1556 and 1558, and enti-
Romanticism, which greatly emphasised the role and the
tled by him simply Vita (Italian: Life). He declares at the nature of the individual, and in the footsteps of Jean-
start: No matter what sort he is, everyone who has to his
Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, a more intimate form
credit what are or really seem great achievements, if he of autobiography, exploring the subjects emotions, came
cares for truth and goodness, ought to write the story of into fashion. Stendhal's autobiographical writings of the
his own life in his own hand; but no one should venture 1830s, The Life of Henry Brulard and Memoirs of an Ego-
on such a splendid undertaking before he is over forty.[3] tist, are both avowedly inuenced by Rousseau.[4] An En-
These criteria for autobiography generally persisted un- glish example is William Hazlitt's Liber Amoris (1823), a
til recent times, and most serious autobiographies of the painful examination of the writers love-life.
next three hundred years conformed to them.
With the rise of education, cheap newspapers and cheap
Another autobiography of the period is De vita propria, printing, modern concepts of fame and celebrity began
by the Italian mathematician, physician and astrologer to develop, and the beneciaries of this were not slow
Gerolamo Cardano (1574). to cash in on this by producing autobiographies. It be-
The earliest known autobiography in English is the early came the expectationrather than the exceptionthat
15th-century Book of Margery Kempe, describing among those in the public eye should write about themselves
other things Kempes pilgrimage to the Holy Land and not only writers such as Charles Dickens (who also in-
visit to Rome. The book remained in manuscript and was corporated autobiographical elements in his novels) and
 3

Anthony Trollope, but also politicians (e.g. Henry Brooks original version. The term may also apply to works of c-
Adams), philosophers (e.g. John Stuart Mill), churchmen tion purporting to be autobiographies of real characters,
such as Cardinal Newman, and entertainers such as P. T. e.g., Robert Nye's Memoirs of Lord Byron.
Barnum. Increasingly, in accordance with romantic taste,
these accounts also began to deal, amongst other topics,
with aspects of childhood and upbringingfar removed 5 See also
from the principles of Cellinian autobiography.
Alphabiography

2.5 20th and 21st centuries Autobiogeography

From the 17th century onwards, scandalous mem- Autobiographical comics

oirs by supposed libertines, serving a public taste for Autobiographical novel
titillation, have been frequently published. Typically
pseudonymous, they were (and are) largely works of c- I Novel
tion written by ghostwriters. So-called autobiographies
of modern professional athletes and media celebrities Autobiographical songs
and to a lesser extent about politicians, generally written Biography
by a ghostwriter, are routinely published. Some celebri-
ties, such as Naomi Campbell, admit to not having read List of autobiographies
their autobiographies.. Some sensationalist autobiogra-
phies such as James Freys A Million Little Pieces have Memoir
been publicly exposed as having embellished or ctional-
Unreliable Narrator
ized signicant details of the authors lives.
Autobiography has become an increasingly popular and
widely accessible form. A Fortunate Life by Albert Facey 6 Notes and references
(1979) has become an Australian literary classic.[5] With
the critical and commercial success in the United States of
[1] Oxford English Dictionary, Autobiography
such memoirs as Angelas Ashes and The Color of Water,
more and more people have been encouraged to try their [2] Steve Mason, Flavius Josephus: Translation and Com-
hand at this genre. mentary. Life of Josephus : translation and commentary,
Volume 9

[3] Benvenuto Cellini, tr. George Bull, The Autobiography,

3 Nature of autobiography London 1966 p. 15.

[4] Wood, Michael (1971). Stendhal. Ithaca, NY: Cornell

Autobiographical works are by nature subjective. The University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0801491245.
inabilityor unwillingnessof the author to accurately
[5] about-australia.com.au, 2010
recall memories has in certain cases resulted in mislead-
ing or incorrect information. Some sociologists and psy- [6] Berghegger, Scott. (2005). Sublime Inauthen-
chologists have noted that autobiography oers the au- ticity: How critical is truth in autobiography?"
thor the ability to recreate history.[6] Student Pulse http://studentpulse.com/articles/31/
sublime-inauthenticity-how-critical-is-truth-in-autobiography

4 Fictional autobiography
7 Bibliography
The term ctional autobiography signies novels about
Barros, Carolyn (1998). Autobiography: Narra-
a ctional character written as though the character were
tive of Transformation. Ann Arbor: University of
writing their own autobiography, meaning that the char-
Michigan Press.
acter is the rst-person narrator and that the novel ad-
dresses both internal and external experiences of the
character. Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders is an early exam- Buckley, Jerome Hamilton (1994). The Turning
ple. Charles Dickens' David Coppereld is another such Key: Autobiography and the Subjective Impulse Since
classic, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is a 1800. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
well-known modern example of ctional autobiography.
Charlotte Bront's Jane Eyre is yet another example of Lejeune, Philippe (1989). On Autobiography.
ctional autobiography, as noted on the front page of the Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
4 8 FURTHER READING

Olney, James (1998). Memory & Narrative: The

Weave of Life-Writing. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press.

Pascal, Roy (1960). Design and Truth in Autobiog-

raphy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Reynolds, Dwight F., ed. (2001). Interpreting the

Self: Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition.
Berkeley: University of California Press.

Wu, Pey-Yi (1990). The Confucians Progress:

Autobiographical Writings in Traditional China.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Ferrieux, Robert (2001). L'Autobiographie en

Grande-Bretagne et en Irlande. Paris: Ellipses. p.
384. ISBN 9782729800215.

8 Further reading
Padva, Gilad (2014). Reinventing Lesbian Youth
in Su Friedrichs Cinematic Autoqueerography Hide
and Seek. In Padva, Gilad, Queer Nostalgia in Cin-
ema and Pop Culture, pp. 123138. Basingstock,
UK and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-
1-137-26633-0.
 5

9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1 Text
Autobiography Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography?oldid=760511216 Contributors: Vicki Rosenzweig, Mav, Bryan
Derksen, Mjb, Olivier, Michael Hardy, Tregoweth, Arwel Parry, DereckA, Disdero, Andrewman327, Zoicon5, Mrand, Grendelkhan,
Wetman, Jusjih, Slawojarek, Riddley, Robbot, Jredmond, ZimZalaBim, Altenmann, Mirv, Academic Challenger, DHN, Lupo, Alan Lieft-
ing, DocWatson42, Everyking, Varlaam, ALargeElk, Ruzulo, Ellsworth, Neutrality, Sonett72, MakeRocketGoNow, Marlowe~enwiki, Dis-
cospinster, ESkog, GoldenRing, Shanes, Wareh, Guettarda, Bobo192, Infocidal, RussBlau, MPerel, Haham hanuka, Dygituljunky, Arthena,
Docboat, Amorymeltzer, IMeowbot, BDD, Drbreznjev, Ceyockey, Japanese Searobin, Kelly Martin, RHaworth, Rocastelo, Robert K S,
MONGO, Stefanomione, RuM, Graham87, Cuvtixo, Magister Mathematicae, , Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Feydey, SMC, Ricardo Carneiro
Pires, Matt Deres, PeterMarquisKyle, FlaBot, Ian Pitchford, Eubot, Rune.welsh, Gurch, Planetneutral, Chobot, DVdm, Tone, Kakurady,
EamonnPKeane, YurikBot, Sceptre, Mahahahaneapneap, Phantomsteve, RadioFan, Hammadi, Rsrikanth05, NawlinWiki, Chick Bowen,
1freethinker, Robdurbar, Mugunth Kumar, Bobyllib, Brz7, JLaTondre, Kungfuadam, SmackBot, David Kernow, C.Fred, Gary Kirk,
Giork, Jagged 85, Nick Warren, BiT, Bertilvidet, Moberho, Gilliam, Hmains, Squiddy, JCSantos, Mariannep, SchftyThree, Raresel,
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gre36, Iridescent, Jetman, Lenoxus, Courcelles, Lahiru k, MightyWarrior, Wolfdog, Redaktoer, AlbertSM, Karenjc, Cydebot, Gogo Dodo,
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USN1977, Lokaydokay, Uncle Dick, Acalamari, Idunno271828, Gombang, Kansas Bear, Juliancolton, Jebspringeld, Bonadea, SoCal-
SuperEagle, CardinalDan, Idioma-bot, Malik Shabazz, Je G., Alexandria, AlnoktaBOT, VasilievVV, Philip Trueman, Rossa1, A4bot,
JhsBot, Figureskatingfan, Noformation, Randol 123, Ilyushka88, Henryrothschild, Frank G Anderson, Wiae, FFMG, Synthebot, Fal-
con8765, Cindamuse, AlleborgoBot, Metallicash, SieBot, StAnselm, Milnivri, Dawn Bard, Caltas, Triwbe, Lucasbfrbot, Bentogoa, Flyer22
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Anonymous101, Jusdafax, Lartoven, Ykhwong, MacedonianBoy, Arjayay, Jotterbot, GuasBorgz7, Dekisugi, Thingg, Aitias, DerBorg,
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PHONE?, Ningauble, Kookyunii, AnomieBOT, DemocraticLuntz, Noq, Jim1138, IRP, Galoubet, Longthaomd, Feifumgotnn, Materialsci-
entist, Smithers2008, Xqbot, TheAMmollusc, Titansalltheway17, Nasnema, Weaker41, Robert Ferrieux, Deeiel, GrouchoBot, BrEdWhite,
Kyng, Martinacevedomarte, Shadowjams, Miyagawa, Sanamnr, Bagua52012, Joaquin008, Willyum10, FrescoBot, Ace of Spades, D'ohBot,
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HiW-Bot, ZroBot, F, Knight1993, Bamyers99, Ocaasi, Mcmatter, Cit helper, Boss51, Greddy1710, Apple123456, Donner60, Oisin-
isiO, TYelliot, Petrb, Ravijot singh narsinghia, ClueBot NG, Satellizer, RAMNIVAS BISHNOI, Ernstsa, Widr, WikiPuppies, Nu Luv
Beats, Mark Arsten, Gwaap Gutta, No worries1980, DARIO SEVERI, Lanwi1, Walterkanyemba, Ipkardin, Klilidiplomus, Govzambuana,
JOHAINA GURO, David.moreno72, Pratyya Ghosh, Packer1028, FoCuSandLeArN, Kenclemente, Webclient101, Mymis, 331dot, Lu-
gia2453, Frosty, SFK2, MaNDo RaP, SwaqqBoi, Ajay Singroha, Superbrocker7272, Mrumaraziz, Darth Sitges, Meggyumusic, Kumar
Navin Singh, Randykitty, Mrinanka, Minicar3, Olden47, Jack.d.todd68, Harlem Baker Hughes, Tentinator, Everymorning, Universal-
sunrise, Jonathan acworth, DavidLeighEllis, Softbeauty, Magic4u tk, Chirththayer, Sarah Joy Jones, RAJKUMARSATLA, Shaun9876,
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Ningmuabruno, Sckay334, Asokogi, Knowledge Greed, Amortias, HMSLavender, MRD2014, Rainermaria27, KH-1, Aadil ahmad sa,
Abahanga, Hariskhan36, Pankaj v 2001, Obryy, Altenmaeren, Anonimeco, Isholaolorin, Stijn is cool, Reyakagucci, Kukigurl123, Comic-
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datheeq177, Raynascimento, Nadan vickzz, M Soft Corporation Private Limited, Charles Cover, Devendra Narayan, LollipopLollipop123,
Baggett1982, Ujanba01, Tjsani01, GSS-1987, Doulph88, Cli456, 919shr, Tito D. Sapetin, Wi.U, Shelldoma, Mariah estrella, Daniel
Iacobute, LUNATICSJAM, Wiss int, Jatin Desi, Chijindu Itoroh, Pariskrit, Tushismyname, Abrahambwaita, Rakshasingh01, Segzimilson,
Yuva Seva Sangh Smiti, Devotion55, Jashim.ice, Sushil Chhetri, J Foreign, Langh Khan Kam, Brendon simonson, Sxoza26 and Anonymous:
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