biography and autobiography english iii

autobiography

What is autobiography definition, usage, and literary examples, autobiography definition.

An  autobiography  (awe-tow-bye-AWE-gruh-fee) is a self-written  biography . The author writes about all or a portion of their own life to share their experience, frame it in a larger cultural or historical context, and/or inform and entertain the reader.

Autobiographies have been a popular literary genre for centuries. The first Western autobiography is attributed to Saint Augustine of Hippo for his 13-book work titled  Confessions , written between 397 and 400 CE. Some autobiographies are a straightforward narrative that recollects a linear chain of events as they unfolded. The genre has expanded and evolved to include different approaches to the form.

The word  autobiography  comes from the Ancient Greek  auto  (“self”) +  bios  (“life”) +  graphein  (“to write”) = “a self-written life.” It is also known as autography .

The History of Autobiography

Scholars regard Augustine’s  Confessions  as the first Western autobiography. Other autobiographical works from antiquity include Jewish historian Flavius Josephus’s  Vita  (circa 99 CE) and Greek scholar Libanius’s  Oration I  (374 CE). Works of this kind were called apologias, which essentially means “in my defense.” Writers approached these works not as acts of self-documentation but as self-defense. They represented a way to explain and provide rationale for their life, work, and escapades. There was also less focus on their emotional lives.

The Book of Margery Kempe , written in 1438 by an English Christian mystic, is the earliest known autobiography in English. (Though it didn’t see full publication until the 20th century.) Other early English-language biographies of note include:

• Lord Herbert of Cherbury’s 1764 memoirs
• John Bunyan’s  Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners  in 1666
• Jarena Lee’s  The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee  (the first autobiography of an African American woman)

Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s  Confessions was published in 1782. It paved the way for the more thoughtful, emotionally centered autobiographies seen today. Autobiography as a literary genre emerged a few years later, when British scholar William Taylor first used the term to describe a self-written biography. He did so disparagingly, suggesting the form was  pedantic . In 1809, English Romantic poet Robert Southey used the term more seriously to describe self-written biographies.

Starting in the 20th century, more young people started writing autobiographies. Perhaps the most famous example is Anne Frank’s  The Diary of a Young Girl , about her time hiding from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic. The 21st century saw an increase in autobiographical essay collections and memoirs by younger celebrities, including:

• Anna Kendrick
• Mindy Kaling
• Gabourey Sidibe
• Mike Birbiglia
• Lena Dunham
• Chelsea Handler

Autobiographies are not immune to controversy. One notable scandal involved author James Frey’s  A Million Little Pieces . Originally billed as a memoir, evidence later emerged that Frey invented key parts of the story. This example underscores how easily authors can cross over into autofiction—fictional autobiography—and how seriously readers take authors’ responsibility to accurately and honestly market their books.

Types of Autobiographies

There are a few different types of self-written works that qualify as autobiography.

Standard Autobiographies

In the most traditional form, authors recount their life or specific formative events from their life. This approach often utilizes a chronological format of events, but it doesn’t necessarily have to. An author’s approach might include a framing device such as flashbacks, in which they move from the present to the past as they remember their lives. For example, Broadway star Patti LuPone’s self-titled autobiography begins on the opening night of  Gypsy  in 2004 before moving back in time to LuPone’s childhood. An author could take a more stream-of-consciousness style, in which one memory links to another by a common theme. Irish writer Seán O’Casey narrates his six-volume  Autobiographies  in this manner

This is a type of autobiography that is narrower in scope and focus. It places greater emphasis on particular memories, thoughts, and feelings. A standard autobiography can certainly cover some of this same ground—most do—but the memoir is more interested in individual events or defined portions of the author’s life and the emotions and lessons behind them.

Henry David Thoreau is a notable memoirist. In Walden , he reflects on his time spent living in solitude in the woods of Massachusetts and what he learned about life and nature throughout this experience. Another example is  The Year of Magical Thinking  by Joan Didion, which relates the death of her husband and its impact on her life and work. Another is  Wild  by Cheryl Strayed, wherein Strayed remembers her time hiking the Pacific Crest Trail during a period of great change in her life.

Autofiction

The fictionalized autobiography, or autofiction, is another type of autobiography. The author presents their story not as fact but as fiction. This method gives them considerable space to take creative license with events and characters, thereby blurring the lines between reality and fiction. The overall goal is less about the author wanting to obscure facts and make things up and more a matter of taking another tactic to delve into their experiences in service of self-discovery.  Taipei  by Tao Lin is a work of autofiction. The central character, Paul, mirrors Lin’s own life and experiences, from the literary world of New York City to his ancestral roots in Taiwan.

Spiritual Autobiographies

These autobiographies center on the author’s religious or spiritual awakening and the subsequent journey their faith has taken them on. Common elements include struggles and doubt, a life-altering conversion, periods of regression, and sharing the “message.” These all act as endorsements of the author’s faith. Augustine’s  Confessions , Paramahansa Yogananda’s  Autobiography of a Yogi , and Augusten Burroughs’s  Toil & Trouble: A Memoir  are all spiritual autobiographies.

Autobiography vs. Biography

Both autobiographies and  biographies  are records of real lives, but there is one major distinction. A person other than the book’s subject writes a biography, while the subject themselves writes an autobiography. In this way, an autobiography is essentially a biography of the self. The biographer’s job is typically more involved, entailing detailed research into the life of the subject. The autobiographer, however, is usually not burdened by this because they lived through the events they write about. They may need only to confirm dates and stories to accurately relate the pertinent details.

The Function of Autobiography

An autobiography allows the author to tell the true story of their own life. This is the reason why autobiographies have always been written by famous people. History tends to remember notable individuals for just one significant contribution or event and, even then, the public’s perception of it may be inaccurate. Writing an autobiography allows the author to share the real story and put it into the larger context of their life and times.

Most readers pick up an autobiography expecting some degree of subjectivity from the author. After all, the events chronicled happened to the author, so the writing will of course have a biased  perspective . There are advantages to this subjectivity, though. The reader gets the real story directly from the person who lived it, unvarnished by others’ opinions or erroneous historical data.

One way this subjectivity is problematic is that the author may not possess the ability to see the story they’re telling from other perspectives. For example, they may not acknowledge any hurt they caused others, dangerous behaviors they engaged in, or the “other side” of a controversial event in which there are equally valid opposing viewpoints and experiences. Any of these deficiencies can result in a somewhat skewed narrative.

Writers Known for Autobiography & Autobiography Books

• Maya Angelou,  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings ,  Gather Together in My Name
• Jung Chang,  Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
• Isak Dinesen,  Out of Africa ,  Shadows on the Grass
• Carrie Fisher,  Wishful Drinking ,  Shockaholic
• Anne Frank,  The Diary of a Young Girl
• Ernest Hemingway,  A Moveable Feast
• Karl Ove Knausgård,  My Struggle
• Frank McCourt,  Angela’s Ashes
• Anaïs Nin,  The Diaries of Anaïs Nin
• Marcel Proust,  Remembrance of Things Past
• Patti Smith,  Just Kids ,  M Train
• Mark Twain, The Autobiography of Mark Twain
• Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
• Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
• Agatha Christie, Agatha Christie: An Autobiography
• Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
• Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi: An Autobiography 

Examples of Autobiographies

1. Maya Angelou,  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Angelou’s autobiography is the first installment in a seven-volume series chronicling the life of the legendary poet, teacher, actress, director, dancer, and civil rights activist. Given all those roles, it’s easy to see why Angelou’s life story makes for interesting reading.

This volume centers primarily on her early life in Stamps, Arkansas, and the devastating effects of a childhood rape. It also explores racism in the American South. It discuses the important role reading plays in helping young Maya deal with the sexual assault and pervasive prejudice in her environment.

2. Helen Keller,  The Story of My Life

Keller’s autobiography details her first 20 years, starting with the childhood illness that caused her blindness and deafness. She discusses the obstacles she had to overcome and the life-changing relationship she shared with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, who helped her learn to read and write. Keller also documents her friendships with several famous figures of her day, including Alexander Graham Bell, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and First Lady Frances Cleveland.

3. Vinh Chung,  Where the Wind Leads

Chung’s autobiography recalls the harrowing story of a Vietnamese refugee and his journey to make the American Dream his own. Born in South Vietnam, Chung comes of age in a changing political climate that eventually compels his family to flee the country. Their voyage takes them through the South China Sea, run-ins with pirates, resettlement in Arkansas, and Chung’s graduation from Harvard Medical School.

How to Write an Autobiography

Autobiography is a truly universal art form and is accessible to anyone, whether you're in high school or 100 years old. Exploring the process of writing an autobiography deserves an article in itself, but the process should include these steps:

• Determine your "why." What lessons do you want to impart via your story, and why are they worth sharing with a broader audience?
• Draft an autobiographical outline. It should include information about your upbringing, impactful moments throughout your life, stories of failure and success, and meaningful mentors.
• Begin with the easiest sections. Getting started is often the greatest hurdle, so begin by writing the chapters that feel most accessible or enjoyable.
• Write your first draft. Once you write the first chapters, it will feel easier to write the rest. Capitalize on your momentum and write a full draft.
• Step away. As with anything, stepping away from your work will help foster fresh perspectives when you return.
• Edit and re-write your draft. Your first draft will probably benefit from thorough revisions, as will your second draft, and maybe your third. Continue to edit and revise until it feels right.
• Ask for help. Bring in a trusted family member or friend or professional editor to help with final edits.

Further Resources on Autobiography

ThoughtCo. shares some  important points to consider before writing an autobiography .

The Living Handbook of Narratology delves into the  history of the autobiography .

MasterClass breaks autobiography writing down into  eight basic steps .

Pen & the Pad looks at the  advantages and disadvantages of the autobiography .

Lifehack has a list of  15 autobiographies everyone should read at least once .

Related Terms

• Frame Story
• Point of View

• Subject List
• Take a Tour
• For Authors
• Subscriber Services
• Publications
• African American Studies
• African Studies
• American Literature
• Anthropology
• Architecture Planning and Preservation
• Art History
• Atlantic History
• Biblical Studies

British and Irish Literature

• Childhood Studies
• Chinese Studies
• Cinema and Media Studies
• Communication
• Criminology
• Environmental Science
• Evolutionary Biology
• International Law
• International Relations
• Islamic Studies
• Jewish Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Latino Studies
• Linguistics
• Literary and Critical Theory
• Medieval Studies
• Military History
• Political Science
• Public Health
• Renaissance and Reformation
• Social Work
• Urban Studies
• Victorian Literature
• Browse All Subjects

How to Subscribe

• Free Trials

In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Biography and Autobiography

Introduction, general theoretical overviews and textbooks.

• Ancient and Premodern Periods
• 16th–19th Centuries
• 20th–21st Centuries
• Interviews and Recordings
• Foreign-Language Journals
• Autobiography and Memoir
• Letters and Diaries
• Holocaust Representations
• Audio/Visual Life Narrative
• Digital Life Narrative
• Fiction, Fact, and Life Narrative
• Literary Selves and Authorship
• Historical, Political, and Ethical Contexts
• Religion, War, Migration and Travel, Family
• Identity Interests and Claims

Related Articles Expand or collapse the "related articles" section about

About related articles close popup.

Lorem Ipsum Sit Dolor Amet

Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Aliquam ligula odio, euismod ut aliquam et, vestibulum nec risus. Nulla viverra, arcu et iaculis consequat, justo diam ornare tellus, semper ultrices tellus nunc eu tellus.

• Edmund Gosse
• Irish Life Writing

Other Subject Areas

Forthcoming articles expand or collapse the "forthcoming articles" section.

• Children's Literature and Young Adult Literature in Ireland
• John Banville
• Shakespeare's Language
• Find more forthcoming articles...
• Export Citations
• Share This Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Biography and Autobiography by Margaretta Jolly LAST REVIEWED: 26 July 2017 LAST MODIFIED: 26 July 2017 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846719-0006

The history of life writing reflects the history of selfhood itself, particularly as it has tracked the rise of individualism and, arguably, individuality. Biography, the interpretation of another’s life, is an ancient form with roots in religious and royal accounts and can be found in all civilizations, although its didactic and moral emphasis has slowly faded in favor of debunking approaches. Autobiography is generally argued to arise in modernizing societies where the individual’s perspective gains cultural value, and has been linked to deep questions of self-awareness, self-division, and self-performance. The romantic period crystallized this relationship as well as linked life writing to a new cult of the author. In the context of late modern culture, life narrative has become still more autobiographical than biographical, an everyday practice of confession and self-styling. However, biography and autobiography are not always distinct. Memoir can focus on another or oneself and has become the preferred term for literary autobiography in the early 21st century, arguably because current tastes are for stories of intimate relationship in which elements of biography and autobiography come together. Critics have therefore become interested in the inevitable dependency of one’s own story on another’s, a subject of ethical trouble but aesthetic, intellectual, and political fascination. Such “auto/biographies” express a range of relationships, from the ghostwriter’s service to a public figure’s memoir, to the ethnographer’s or doctor’s view of a person as case history. More often, family relations are the grounds on which the complexities of representational contracts are played out. This negotiation relates to a second defining aspect of life narrative: the reader’s expectation that it be true. “Memory is a great artist,” claimed a great autobiographical experimenter, André Malraux, and an enduring critical question has been whether life writing can be both artful and historically accurate. Increasingly, however, scholars broaden from such aesthetic debates to consider the social, political, and psychological work of life narrative. Readers will therefore find that this article pushes out from the literary to encompass a capacious field of inquiry that includes social scientists interested in narrative or biographical methods, and interdisciplinary studies of personal storytelling in the contexts of human rights activism or, conversely, of the late capitalist trade in celebrity or exotic lives and digital cultures of self-publication. For literary critics, therefore, biography and autobiography are now generally appreciated as two genres within a bigger field of life writing, life narrative, or life story about self-other relations, although they remain touchstones for those interested in how life experience can be aestheticized.

Life narrative is found in all places and historical periods and encompasses many aspects of everyday speech as well as writing. It is therefore difficult to produce a definitive criticism, and the texts listed here divide between those with a more literary and a more sociological focus. From a literary or cultural-studies perspective, Smith and Watson 2010 provides the most condensed overview and builds on an important body of joint work by these North American scholars, particularly on the global, postcolonial, and feminist face of much life writing. Jolly 2001 remains the most internationally comprehensive guide, with analytical surveys and bibliographies of life narrative in all major continents and countries, from classical periods to the early 21st century. Broughton 2006 , an anthology that provides a selection of key critical interventions, also features an excellent introduction in which the author interprets the shifting critical emphasis from the life to the self. Marcus 1994 , written by another British critic, offers a more extended tracing of this “discourse” about auto/biography. The author’s brilliant thesis is that the genre has been the ground for fantasies about self-alienation in modernity and, conversely, for redemptive healing of its splits. Plummer 2001 approaches life stories from this redemptive point of view, as a sociologist in what the author defines as a radical humanist tradition, and also a gay man who has studied as well as lived the coming-out story. Harrison 2009 , also written by a sociologist, is an edited collection that points out the growth in narrative and biographical research methods for social scientists. Life narrative is inherently suitable for teaching both as method and topic with unique pulling power and accessibility. Fuchs and Howes 2008 , another edited collection of essays, is extremely useful for any would-be teachers, offering case studies, lesson plans, and syllabi, including from South Africa and Chad. Chansky and Hipchen 2016 offers carefully edited and organized selected essays tracing key debates in a one-stop volume that marks the multidisciplinary, multimediated direction of the field. Finally, the International Auto/Biography Association (IABA), launched in 1999 at Peking University by Zhao Baisheng, hosts a global network of scholars through biannual conferences around the world, a listserv managed by the Center for Biographical Research at the University of Hawai‘i, and a website hosted by Julie Rak at the University of Alberta. Zhao also edits a Chinese-language list of short biographies and has written a short book arguing that auto/biography is a field of literature that deserves to be an object of study in its own right. Limited bibliographic details for this show that, as of yet, such initiatives and English-language-based scholarship are not sufficiently integrated.

Broughton, Trev Lynn ed. Autobiography: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies . 4 vols. London: Routledge, 2006.

Four-volume anthology of important critical texts from the 18th century onward, with an incisive introduction. Organized in eight parts within four volumes: Part 1, “Founding Statements”; Part 2, “Beyond Truth versus Fiction”; Part 3, “Discovering Difference”; Part 4, “Personal Stories, Hidden Histories”; Part 5, “Psychology, Psychoanalysis, and the Narrability of Lives”; Part 6, “Autobiography as Critique”; Part 7, “Personal Texts as Autobiography”; and Part 8, “Cultures of Life Writing.”

Chansky, Ricia Anne, and Emily Hipchen, eds. The Routledge Auto|Biography Studies Reader . Routledge Literature Readers. London and New York: Routledge, 2016.

One-volume anthology principally selected from the archives of the a/b: Auto/Biography Studies journal. Organized by school of thought, from debates about genre/canon to those of political identity and representation to early-21st-century concerns with medical humanities, postmemory, animalographies, graphic narrative, celebrity lives, and digital biography.

Fuchs, Miriam, and Craig Howes, eds. Teaching Life Writing Texts . New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2008.

Commissioned by the Modern Language Association of America’s prestigious teaching text series; signifies the academic integration of life-writing studies. Containing over forty-four short articles on teaching specific texts or genres, some with lesson plans, this work is a practical and inspiring teaching resource. Internationally focused.

Harrison, Barbara, ed. Life Story Research . 4 vols. London: SAGE, 2009.

Four volumes on methodological approaches within the social sciences in which research foregrounds the individual. Useful for related fields (nursing, criminology, cultural studies). Organized as five parts within four volumes: Part 1, “Historical Origins and Trajectories”; Part 2, “Theoretical and Conceptual Issues in Life Story Research”; Part 3, “Types of Life Story Research: Traditional and New Sources of Life Story Data”; Part 4, “Doing Life Story Research”; and Part 5, “Research Contexts and Life Stories.”

International Auto/Biography Association .

Founded in 1999 as a multidisciplinary network of auto/biographers, scholars, and readers to pursue global dialogues on life writing. IABA’s first conference took place at Peking University; it has met biannually since then in China, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Germany, Hawaii, England, Cyprus, and Brazil.

Jolly, Margaretta, ed. The Encyclopedia of Life Writing: Autobiographical and Biographical Forms . 2 vols. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001.

First and still only encyclopedia in English on life writing and life narrative. Two large volumes include entries on important writers, genres, and subgenres. Entries encompass, for example, confession, obituary, and gossip; portraits; surveys of national and regional traditions from all continents and periods; and themes such as shame, adolescence, time, and self.

Marcus, Laura. Auto/Biographical Discourses: Theory, Criticism, Practice . Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1994.

Brilliant intellectual and literary history of the ways that life writing from the 18th century to the 1990s has been conceptualized by writers, critics, philosophers, and journalists. Marcus rejects the idea that there is a stable genre of autobiography, but she proposes that there is, instead, a distinct genre of autobiographical criticism.

Plummer, Kenneth. Documents of Life 2: An Invitation to a Critical Humanism . 2d ed. London: SAGE, 2001.

DOI: 10.4135/9781849208888

A highly readable guide to life writing and life story as objects and methods of analysis from a sociological but also literary perspective, with a particularly useful section on interviewing. This edition substantially revises and improves Plummer’s original publication in 1983 while continuing to argue that radical humanism is life writing’s appropriate philosophical framework.

Smith, Sidonie, and Julia Watson. Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives . 2d ed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.

Authoritative, accessible guide to the cultural study of life narrative across genre, period, and place, with good attention to non-Western texts. Includes chapters on early-21st-century life narrative and visual-verbal-virtual forms, as well as a “tool kit” consisting of twenty-four strategies for reading life narratives, classroom projects, and a list of Internet resources.

back to top

Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login .

Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here .

• About British and Irish Literature »
• Meet the Editorial Board »
• Abbey Theatre
• Adapting Shakespeare
• Alfred (King)
• Alliterative Verse
• Ancrene Wisse, and the Katherine and Wooing Groups
• Anglo-Irish Poetry, 1500–1800
• Anglo-Saxon Hagiography
• Arthurian Literature
• Austen, Jane
• Ballard, J. G.
• Barnes, Julian
• Beckett, Samuel
• Behn, Aphra
• Biblical Literature
• Biography and Autobiography
• Blake, William
• Bloomsbury Group
• Bowen, Elizabeth
• Brontë, Anne
• Brooke-Rose, Christine
• Browne, Thomas
• Burgess, Anthony
• Burney, Frances
• Burns, Robert
• Butler, Hubert
• Byron, Lord
• Carroll, Lewis
• Carter, Angela
• Catholic Literature
• Celtic and Irish Revival
• Chatterton, Thomas
• Chaucer, Geoffrey
• Chorographical and Landscape Writing
• Coffeehouse
• Congreve, William
• Conrad, Joseph
• Crime Fiction
• Defoe, Daniel
• Dickens, Charles
• Donne, John
• Drama, Northern Irish
• Drayton, Michael
• Early Modern Prose, 1500-1650
• Eighteenth-Century Novel
• Eliot, George
• English Bible and Literature, The
• English Civil War / War of the Three Kingdoms
• English Reformation Literature
• Epistolatory Novel, The
• Erotic, Obscene, and Pornographic Writing, 1660-1900
• Ferrier, Susan
• Fielding, Henry
• Ford, Ford Madox
• French Revolution, 1789–1799
• Friel, Brian
• Gascoigne, George
• Globe Theatre
• Golding, William
• Goldsmith, Oliver
• Gosse, Edmund
• Gower, John
• Gray, Thomas
• Gunpowder Plot (1605), The
• Hardy, Thomas
• Heaney, Seamus
• Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
• Herbert, George
• Highlands, The
• Hogg, James
• Holmes, Sherlock
• Hopkins, Gerard Manley
• Hurd, Richard
• Ireland and Memory Studies
• Irish Crime Fiction
• Irish Famine, Writing of the
• Irish Gothic Tradition
• Irish Literature and the Union with Britain, 1801-1921
• Irish Modernism
• Irish Poetry of the First World War
• Irish Short Story, The
• Irish Travel Writing
• Johnson, B. S.
• Johnson, Samuel
• Jones, David
• Jonson, Ben
• Joyce, James
• Keats, John
• Kelman, James
• Kempe, Margery
• Lamb, Charles and Mary
• Larkin, Philip
• Law, Medieval
• Lawrence, D. H.
• Literature, Neo-Latin
• Literature of the Bardic Revival
• Literature of the Irish Civil War
• Literature of the 'Thirties
• MacDiarmid, Hugh
• MacPherson, James
• Malory, Thomas
• Marlowe, Christopher
• Marvell, Andrew
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
• McEwan, Ian
• McGuckian, Medbh
• Medieval Lyrics
• Medieval Manuscripts
• Medieval Scottish Poetry
• Medieval Sermons
• Middleton, Thomas
• Milton, John
• Miéville, China
• Morality Plays
• Morris, William
• Muir, Edwin
• Muldoon, Paul
• Ní Chuilleanáin, Eiléan
• Nonsense Literature
• Novel, Contemporary British
• Novel, The Contemporary Irish
• O’Casey, Sean
• O'Connor, Frank
• O’Faoláin, Seán
• Old English Literature
• Percy, Thomas
• Piers Plowman
• Pope, Alexander
• Postmodernism
• Post-War Irish Drama
• Post-war Irish Writing
• Pre-Raphaelites
• Prosody and Meter: Early Modern to 19th Century
• Prosody and Meter: Twentieth Century
• Psychoanalysis
• Quincey, Thomas De
• Ralegh (Raleigh), Sir Walter
• Ramsay, Allan and Robert Fergusson
• Revenge Tragedy
• Richardson, Samuel
• Rise of the Novel in Britain, 1660–1780, The
• Robin Hood Literature
• Romance, Medieval English
• Romanticism
• Ruskin, John
• Science Fiction
• Scott, Walter
• Shakespeare in Translation
• Shakespeare, William
• Shaw, George Bernard
• Shelley, Percy Bysshe
• Sidney, Mary, Countess of Pembroke
• Sinclair, Iain
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Smollett, Tobias
• Sonnet and Sonnet Sequence
• Spenser, Edmund
• Sterne, Laurence
• Swift, Jonathan
• Synge, John Millington
• Thomas, Dylan
• Thomas, R. S.
• Tóibín, Colm
• Travel Writing
• Trollope, Anthony
• Tudor Literature
• Twenty-First-Century Irish Prose
• Urban Literature
• Utopian and Dystopian Literature to 1800
• Vampire Fiction
• Verse Satire from the Renaissance to the Romantic Period
• Webster, John
• Welsh, Irvine
• Welsh Poetry, Medieval
• Welsh Writing Before 1500
• Wilmot, John, Second Earl of Rochester
• Wollstonecraft, Mary
• Wollstonecraft Shelley, Mary
• Wordsworth, William
• Writing and Evolutionary Theory
• Wulfstan, Archbishop of York
• Wyatt, Thomas
• Yeats, W. B.
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy
• Legal Notice
• Accessibility

Powered by:

• [66.249.64.20|185.148.24.167]
• 185.148.24.167

Biography and Autobiography

• Literary Terms
• Autobiography
• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Write Autobiography

I. What is Autobiography?

An autobiography is a self-written life story.

It is different from a  biography , which is the life story of a person written by someone else. Some people may have their life story written by another person because they don’t believe they can write well, but they are still considered an author because they are providing the information. Reading autobiographies may be more interesting than biographies because you are reading the thoughts of the person instead of someone else’s interpretation.

II. Examples of Autobiography

One of the United States’ forefathers wrote prolifically (that means a lot!) about news, life, and common sense. His readings, quotes, and advice are still used today, and his face is on the $100 bill. Benjamin Franklin’s good advice is still used through his sayings, such as “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” He’s also the one who penned the saying that’s seen all over many schools: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” His autobiography is full of his adventures , philosophy about life, and his wisdom. His autobiography shows us how much he valued education through his anecdotes (stories) of his constant attempts to learn and improve himself. He also covers his many ideas on his inventions and his thoughts as he worked with others in helping the United States become free from England.

III. Types of Autobiography

There are many types of autobiographies. Authors must decide what purpose they have for writing about their lives, and then they can choose the format that would best tell their story. Most of these types all share common goals: helping themselves face an issue by writing it down, helping others overcome similar events, or simply telling their story.

a. Full autobiography (traditional):

This would be the complete life story, starting from birth through childhood, young adulthood, and up to the present time at which the book is being written. Authors might choose this if their whole lives were very different from others and could be considered interesting.

There are many types of memoirs – place, time, philosophic (their theory on life), occupational, etc. A memoir is a snapshot of a person’s life. It focuses on one specific part that stands out as a learning experience or worth sharing.

c. Psychological illness

People who have suffered mental illness of any kind find it therapeutic to write down their thoughts. Therapists are specialists who listen to people’s problems and help them feel better, but many people find writing down their story is also helpful.

d. Confession

Just as people share a psychological illness, people who have done something very wrong may find it helps to write down and share their story. Sharing the story may make one feel he or she is making amends (making things right), or perhaps hopes that others will learn and avoid the same mistake.

e. Spiritual

Spiritual and religious experiences are very personal . However, many people feel that it’s their duty and honor to share these stories. They may hope to pull others into their beliefs or simply improve others’ lives.

f. Overcoming adversity

Unfortunately, many people do not have happy, shining lives. Terrible events such as robberies, assaults, kidnappings, murders, horrific accidents, and life-threatening illnesses are common in some lives. Sharing the story can inspire others while also helping the person express deep emotions to heal.

IV. The Importance of Autobiography

Autobiographies are an important part of history. Being able to read the person’s own ideas and life stories is getting the first-person story versus the third-person (he-said/she-said) version. In journalism, reporters go to the source to get an accurate account of an event. The same is true when it comes to life stories. Reading the story from a second or third source will not be as reliable. The writer may be incorrectly explaining and describing the person’s life events.

Autobiographies are also important because they allow other people in similar circumstances realize that they are not alone. They can be inspiring for those who are facing problems in their lives. For the author, writing the autobiography allows them to heal as they express their feelings and opinions. Autobiographies are also an important part of history.

V. Examples of Autobiography in Literature

A popular autobiography that has lasted almost 100 years is that of Helen Keller. Her life story has been made into numerous movies and plays. Her teacher, Anne Sullivan, has also had her life story written and televised multiple times. Students today still read and learn about this young girl who went blind and deaf at 19 months of age, causing her to also lose her ability to learn to speak. Sullivan’s entrance into Helen’s life when the girl was seven was the turning point. She learned braille and soon became an activist for helping blind and deaf people across the nation. She died in 1968, but her autobiography is still helping others.

Even in the days before my teacher came, I used to feel along the square stiff boxwood hedges, and, guided by the sense of smell, would find the first violets and lilies. There, too, after a fit of temper, I went to find comfort and to hide my hot face in the cool leaves and grass. What joy it was to lose myself in that garden of flowers, to wander happily from spot to spot, until, coming suddenly upon a beautiful vine, I recognized it by its leaves and blossoms, and knew it was the vine which covered the tumble-down summer-house at the farther end of the garden! (Keller).

An autobiography that many middle and high school students read every year is “Night” by Elie Wiesel. His story is also a memoir, covering his teen years as he and his family went from the comfort of their own home to being forced into a Jewish ghetto with other families, before ending up in a Nazi prison camp. His book is not that long, but the details and description he uses brings to life the horrors of Hitler’s reign of terror in Germany during World War II. Students also read “The Diary of Anne Frank,” another type of autobiography that shows a young Jewish girl’s daily life while hiding from the Nazis to her eventual capture and death in a German camp. Both books are meant to remind us to not be indifferent to the world’s suffering and to not allow hate to take over.

“The people were saying, “The Red Army is advancing with giant strides…Hitler will not be able to harm us, even if he wants to…” Yes, we even doubted his resolve to exterminate us. Annihilate an entire people? Wipe out a population dispersed throughout so many nations? So many millions of people! By what means? In the middle of the twentieth century! And thus my elders concerned themselves with all manner of things—strategy, diplomacy, politics, and Zionism—but not with their own fate. Even Moishe the Beadle had fallen silent. He was weary of talking. He would drift through synagogue or through the streets, hunched over, eyes cast down, avoiding people’s gaze. In those days it was still possible to buy emigration certificates to Palestine. I had asked my father to sell everything, to liquidate everything, and to leave” (Wiesel 8).  

VI. Examples of Autobiography in Pop Culture

One example of an autobiography that was a hit in the movie theaters is “American Sniper,” the story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. According to an article in the Dallas, Texas, magazine D, Kyle donated all the proceeds from the film to veterans and their families. He had a story to tell, and he used it to help others. His story is a memoir, focusing on a specific time period of his life when he was overseas in the military.

An autobiography by a young Olympian is “Grace, Gold and Glory: My Leap of Faith” by Gabrielle (Gabby) Douglas. She had a writer, Michelle Burford, help her in writing her autobiography. This is common for those who have a story to tell but may not have the words to express it well. Gabby was the darling of the 2012 Olympics, winning gold medals for the U.S. in gymnastics along with being the All-Around Gold Medal winner, the first African-American to do so. Many young athletes see her as an inspiration. Her story also became a television movie, “The Gabby Douglas Story.”

VII. Related Terms

The life story of one person written by another. The purpose may to be highlight an event or person in a way to help the public learn a lesson, feel inspired, or to realize that they are not alone in their circumstance. Biographies are also a way to share history. Historic and famous people may have their biographies written by many authors who research their lives years after they have died.

VIII. Conclusion

Autobiographies are a way for people to share stories that may educate, inform, persuade, or inspire others. Many people find writing their stories to be therapeutic, healing them beyond what any counseling might do or as a part of the counseling. Autobiographies are also a way to keep history alive by allowing people in the present learn about those who lived in the past. In the future, people can learn a lot about our present culture by reading autobiographies by people of today.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Onomatopoeia
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Personification
• Point of View
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
• Urban Legend
• Verisimilitude
• Essay Guide
• Cite This Website

• Key Differences

Know the Differences & Comparisons

Difference between Biography and Autobiography

Both of these two presents the view of, what happened in the past where the author lived. These are non-fiction books, written in chronological order, tells a story about the person who made a significant contribution in a specific field. Many think that the two writing forms are one and the same thing, but there are noticeable difference between the two, that are presented in the given article.

Content: Biography Vs Autobiography

Comparison chart, definition of biography.

A biography also referred as ‘bio’ is a detailed account of a person’s life written or produced by another person. It gives an elaborate information regarding the birthplace, educational background, work, relationships and demise of the person concerned. It presents the subject’s intimate details about life, focusing on the highs and lows and analysing their whole personality.

A biography is usually in the written form but can also be made in other forms of a music composition or literature to film interpretation.

It is the recreation of the life of an individual composed of words by another person. The author collects every single detail about the subject and presents those facts in the biography, which are relevant and interesting, to engross the readers in the story.

Definition of Autobiography

An autobiography is the life sketch of a person written by that person himself or herself. The word auto means ‘self.’ Therefore, autobiography contains all the elements of a biography but composed or narrated by the author himself. He/She may write on their own or may hire ghostwriters to write for them.

An autobiography presents the narrator’s character sketch, the place where he is born and brought up, his education, work, life experiences, challenges, and achievements. This may include events and stories of his childhood, teenage, and adulthood.

Key Differences Between Biography and Autobiography

The difference between biography and autobiography are discussed in detail in the following points:

• Biography is a detailed account of a person’s life written by someone else, while an autobiography is written by the subject themselves.
• Biography can be written with (authorised) or without permission (unauthorised) from the person/heir’s concerned. Therefore, there are chances of factual mistakes in the information. On the other hand, autobiographies are self-written and therefore doesn’t require any authorization.
• Biographies contain information that is collected over a period of time from different sources and thus, it projects a different outlook to the readers. On the other hand, autobiographies are written by the subject themselves, therefore, the writer presents the facts and his thinking in his own way, thus providing an overall narrow and biased perspective to the readers.
• In an Autobiography, the author uses the first narrative like I, me, we, he, she, etc. This, in turn, makes an intimate connection between the author and the reader since the reader experience various aspects as if he/she is in that time period. As opposed a biography is from a third person’s view and is much less intimate.
• The purpose of writing a biography is to introduce and inform the readers about the person and his life whereas an autobiography is written in order to express, the life experiences and achievements of the narrator.

Video: Biography Vs Autobiography

There are several autobiographies which are worth mentioning like ‘The Story of My Life’ by Helen Keller, ‘An Autobiography’ by Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ by Anne Frank, ‘Memoirs of the Second World War’ by Winston Churchill, ‘Wings of Fire’ by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and much more.

Examples of some famous biographies are- Tolstoy: A Russian Life by Rosamund Bartlett, His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis, Einstein: The Life and Times by Ronald William Clark, Biography of Walt Disney: The Inspirational Life Story of Walt Disney – The Man Behind “Disneyland” by Steve Walters, Princess Diana- A Biography Of The Princess Of Wales by Drew L. Crichton.

You Might Also Like:

May 4, 2017 at 12:13 am

This website is amazing because my class is reading over it

Joseph says

February 21, 2023 at 8:18 am

I have gotten the answers I really needed at this site

Mukesh Kumar Guar says

February 12, 2019 at 1:52 pm

Little and complete information I was looking for.

Abdul Rahim Muhammad Latif says

February 26, 2019 at 6:09 pm

nice wake well done

Hanady says

October 18, 2019 at 5:51 pm

Amazing! Very helpful and useful. Thank you!

May 7, 2023 at 6:47 am

your article is very well explained

Manish Bhati says

June 21, 2023 at 11:51 am

Great explanation by Surbhi S, it clears confusion between biographies and autobiographies.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Architecture and Design
• Asian and Pacific Studies
• Business and Economics
• Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Computer Sciences
• Cultural Studies
• Engineering
• General Interest
• Geosciences
• Industrial Chemistry
• Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
• Jewish Studies
• Library and Information Science, Book Studies
• Life Sciences
• Linguistics and Semiotics
• Literary Studies
• Materials Sciences
• Mathematics
• Social Sciences
• Sports and Recreation
• Theology and Religion
• Publish your article
• The role of authors
• Promoting your article
• Abstracting & indexing
• Publishing Ethics
• Why publish with De Gruyter
• How to publish with De Gruyter
• Our book series
• Our subject areas
• Your digital product at De Gruyter
• Contribute to our reference works
• Product information
• Tools & resources
• Product Information
• Promotional Materials
• Orders and Inquiries
• FAQ for Library Suppliers and Book Sellers
• Repository Policy
• Free access policy
• Open Access agreements
• Database portals
• For Authors
• Customer service
• People + Culture
• Journal Management
• How to join us
• Working at De Gruyter
• Mission & Vision
• De Gruyter Foundation
• De Gruyter Ebound
• Our Responsibility
• Partner publishers

Your purchase has been completed. Your documents are now available to view.

Handbook of Autobiography / Autofiction

• Edited by: Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf
• X / Twitter

Please login or register with De Gruyter to order this product.

• Language: English
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Copyright year: 2019
• Edition: 3 volumes
• Audience: Academics (Literary Studies)
• Front matter: 40
• Main content: 2180
• Illustrations: 4
• Keywords: Autobiography ; Autofiction
• Published: January 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9783110279818
• ISBN: 9783110279719

Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography: Electronic Edition.

Beard, j. r. (john relly), 1800-1876.

[Autograph of Toussaint L'Ouverture]

OUTLINE MAP OF COLONIAL HAYTI OR ST. DOMINGO.

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

By king christophe., by martineau and wordsworth., by john bigelow., by john greenleaf whittier., by wendell phillips..

Return to Menu Page for Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography by John Relly Beard

Return to North American Slave Narratives Home Page

Return to Documenting the American South Home Page