Autobiography - The Genre

What is Autobiography?

            In an autobiography, an author writes about his own life and achievements.  It is a successful presentation of a personality.  It ends before the death of the writer.  Dr. Johnson says autobiography is better than biography because everyman’s life is best written by himself.  In psychological point of view, autobiography is better because the autobiographer knows his motives, secret hopes and ambitions better than anyone else does.  Longfellow said that autobiography is a product of first hand experience and biography of second hand knowledge.  Stevenson said that autobiography is the true writing.

Types of Autobiography – Objective and Subjective Autobiography

            Autobiography is a narration of events with the purpose of candid telling of the author’s inner life and his public career.  It progress from the outward to the inward, from the objective to the subjective.  St. Augustine’s Confessions, 5^th Century A.D, was the earliest autobiography.  After ten centuries, Rousseau wrote his autobiography in 18^th Century.  Later David Hume, Edward Gibbon and Benjamin Franklin wrote their autobiographies, which were not candid, sometimes repellent, self-revelation or self-exhibitionism.  They are clear, distinct in style and well planned.  These writers inspired many other writers like De Quincey, Benjamin Robert Haydon, Ruskin, H.G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Winston Churchill.  Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn wrote autobiographies in the form of diaries in the 18^th century.  Dorothy Osborne, Thomas Gray, Charles Lamb and John Keats’ wrote autobiographical sketches in the form of letters.

Difficulties of the Autobiographer

            An autobiographer faces many special problems. 

1)      According to Abraham Cowley, writing an autobiography grates the authors heart when he praises himself. 

2)      It is not easy to tell the truth. 

3)      It is difficult to recapture the emotions of the distant past. 

4)      Some episodes may be embarrassing not only the author but also others. 

5)      It is impossible for anyone to be entirely objective. 

6)      Great care must be taken while commenting people who may be alive.  Sometimes it might lead to libel. 

7)      Herbert Spencer pointed out that a biographer and an autobiographer should omit common situations in life and should present the striking and exceptional ones.  This is difficult. 

Whatever difficulties autobiography poses, many authors are victorious in overcoming the problems and have presented their life in the best way.