We explain what autobiography is and what its general characteristics are. Also, the differences with the biography, memoir and novel.
What is an Autobiography?
The autobiography is a story of a life or part of it, told by the person who lived it and from their own perspective. It shows events that they consider important or fundamental in their life, whether from their childhood, adolescence or adulthood.
The autobiography It is considered a literary genre, often located on the border between history and literature, since it narrates real events but does so from a subjective, authorial approach. It is also related to biography, chronicle, intimate diary and other confessional genres of writing.
Currently there is an important reading market for autobiography, especially that of public personalities, celebrities or famous people in history. In their vital accounts, some type of teaching, world vision or intimate revelation is usually sought.
See also: Anthology.
Characteristics of an autobiography:
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Origin of the term
The first time this term was used was in English: autobiography, in early 19th century England, in an article by poet Robert Southey. However, other sources accuse the German philosopher Friedrich Schlegel of having used it in his essays in 1789.
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Background
Before the formal existence of the genre, however, there were already texts of a clearly autobiographical nature, although they were not titled that way. They stand out among them the Confessions of Saint Augustine (351-430 AD), Book of life of Teresa of Jesus (1592-1641), Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1798) or Poetry and truth by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).
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Gender
Within the literary arts, the autobiographical genre, as well as the biographical one, They are located among the written works of non-fiction, at the opposite extreme to narrative fiction, with which it nevertheless shares prose. It is closer to journalistic genres, since it is based on a presumption of authenticity in what is reported by the person who is autobiographical.
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Technique
The author, the narrator and the protagonist usually coincide in the same person in autobiographies. This does not mean that They must necessarily be written in the first person singular (“I”)since the autobiography, being a literary genre, allows the author all the freedom of the expressive resources typical of creative writing.
That means exaggeration, subjective description and, eventually, fictionalization certain events, can easily find its place in the autobiography. Otherwise, the autobiography can be written as its author prefers.
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Objectivity
From an autobiography, as we have said, A certain fidelity and authenticity of events is expectedalthough not so much in terms of meticulous historical accuracy, as in its very personal approach to the events narrated. This means that in the autobiography one should not look for historical accuracy and truth, but rather for intimate, subjective truths that have served the author to narrate the relevant events of his own life.
Many autobiographies exaggerate or simply lie.as is the famous case of I need love (1992) delirious autobiography of actor Klaus Kinski.
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Structure
An autobiography can choose the events to narrate as it sees fit from among those experienced by the author, starting wherever you like and ending at the time you consider appropriate within the arc of events chosen to tell. It may begin in childhood and progress chronologically toward adulthood, it may jump from childhood to old age, or it may be limited to the events of adolescence.
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Extension
As happens in contemporary literary works, there is no extension requirement for the autobiography. It can be as long as desired and can contain as many chapters as the author sees fit.
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Differences with biography
The differences between biography and autobiography They are determined by the prefix that heads the second. While in the biography the writer, who is a different person (whatever) from the biographer, is required to be as faithful as possible to the reality of the life he or she studies, to investigate, investigate and review sources to find something close. to the truth and to be able to recreate it, no greater demands are made of the autobiographer than a minimum of sincerity regarding his told life.
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Differences with memory
Distinguishing between autobiography and memoirs or confessional books is more complicated. Both genres are non-fiction and deal with the life of the author and narrator himself, but autobiography is usually more complete, more encompassing within the author’s life, while memoirs are usually restricted to a specific moment or a specific event, without going further. Both terms are often used synonymously.
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Similarities with the novel
Despite its obvious differences, which have to do with the imaginative nature of the fictional novel, autobiography often It shares with it its form, its structure and its stylistic resources., to the point that it is possible to speak of autobiographical novels, that is, fictional reworkings of the author’s life. The boundaries between these approaches, in any case, are blurred.