Introduction


Benjamin Franklin wrote one of the most famous autobiographies in American literature.
Can we ever be truly objective about ourselves? The genre of autobiography hinges on that very question, and history is riddled with accounts whose integrity has been challenged, if not debunked. Some writers might assert the notion that autobiographies are purposefully subjective, that part of the reason they even interest readers is because of that very subjectivity. In other words, readers want to know the person, not just the events of their lives, so autobiographies sell themselves with the promise of a sense of intimacy. Given the psychological push of biographical writing since the turn of the twentieth century, this makes sense. Autobiographies can also serve as a marketing tool. In an era when people’s fame can last far less than the fifteen minutes Andy Warhol predicted, the quickie autobiography can capture an audience’s momentary interest before fame slips away.

Essential Facts

  1. One of the best-selling (and most controversial) autobiographies was Christina Crawford’s 1978 memoir Mommie Dearest. Though ostensibly Christina’s story, the book was actually a scathing portrait of alleged abuse by Crawford’s adoptive mother, the late actress Joan Crawford.
  2. In the 1700s, racy autobiographies of scandalous exploits were published anonymously.
  3. One unusual iteration of the autobiography is the emergence of autobiographical films in which the subjects play themselves and act out events from their own lives.
  4. The personal blog, a kind of online journal, allows anyone to document their daily life in as much detail as they choose.
  5. Fictional autobiographies are a relatively recent variation of the genre. They use the structure and first-person narratives of the autobiography to document fictional events.