You probably have heard of the term “autobiography” somewhere, like in your English class. There are definitely many things that can be connected to this word. Books, for example, are being categorized as an autobiography with either pictures of a person on its cover or in parts of the book. But what does autobiography really mean in literature?
Definition of Autobiography
Autobiography refers to the writing about one’s life. Although this type of literature is personally written by the person whose experiences are being put into writing, there are also other cases where another individual is writing about the life of a particular person on his behalf.
Overview of Autobiography
The term “autobiography” was first utilized disdainfully in 17th century by William Taylor. The word was used during the 18th century by Robert Southey in its present tense. Even though it was only being identified at the initial part of the 19th century, autobiographical writing using the first-person already emerged ages ago. Autobiography, therefore, extracts parts of the writer’s life form the time of writing. There are tendencies that it is primarily based only on the memories of the writer.
Relationship of Nonfiction and Autobiography
Nonfiction is a literary genre that features works that contain accurate, factual, and clear information, activities, and individuals. However, there are times that nonfictional works are allowed to be shown either in subjective or objective manner. Nonfiction is typically among the essential parts of narrative writing.
The relationship between nonfiction and autobiography is that the latter is a under the wing of the former. In other words, autobiography is a subgenre of nonfiction. The tale of an individual’s life is being narrated by a particular narrator, depending on the writing style of the author. It is expected that all claims and parts of the story is truthful and real, because it would really become an issue if there are accounts in the writings that aren’t factual.
You probably might think that these two great genres of literature are boring and plain because they are spitting facts from top to bottom. But, that isn’t the real deal. Literary nonfiction, where autobiography is categorized, is a great avenue that houses works that have the same goal with fiction — which is to express and fascinate. The only contrasting aspect to fiction is that literary nonfiction’s elements are factual and not nonexistent.
Characteristic of Autobiography
The account of one’s life written by that particular individual is, again, the common definition of autobiography. Therefore, the common point of view used by authors of this genre is first person. The narrator is an essential part of the story, either he the protagonist or supporting character, which aims to tell the tale. The pronouns that the narrator uses are I, my, mine, and such.
Types of Autobiographical Writing
Although it the definition of the subject is already understood by many, it is still considered a vague category. Thus, here are some of the types of autobiography that you should know:
- Religious – also called as spiritual autobiography, it refers to the collection of events in an individual’s life that mainly refers to his relationship with God.
- Intellectual – the purpose of this autobiography is for you to reflect on your experiences and write about the most important moments of your life that made you achieve success and a better person.
- Fictionalized –refers to the autobiographies where the authors tells his truth but there are parts that were given a touch of fiction to safeguard the innocent, close gaps, and reorganize events.
- Thematic – pertains to the type of writing that doesn’t adhere to the facts alone but aims to blend the factual data to show a fixed POV.
Examples of Autobiography
In this day and age, there are already a lot of autobiographies that that are already published. Some of them were written in the classical period while others are written in the contemporary era. What is certain is that they tell raw and substantial stories of amazing people. Here are some of the best examples of autobiography:
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou – contains the story of the early life of the remarkable poet Maya Angelou
- Donut Hole: A Marine’s Real-Life Battles in Vietnam During 1967 and 68 Marines, 1st Force Logistical Command Clutch Platoon by RC LeBeau – the book that features RC Le Beau’s life and war stories
- The Story of My Life by Helen Keller – it highlights the early years of Helen Keller and her moments with Anne Sullivan
- One Caregiver’s Journey by Eleanor Gacetta – showcase the experience of the author in becoming a caregiver for her mother
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