Autobiography

The autobiography (of the old Greek car , oneself, bios , life, and graphein , to write) is a literary Genre of relatively recent popularity, in any case the word is (first occurrence in 1836 according to the dictionary the Petit Robert) - one spoke formerly especially about “ Mémoires ”). Philippe Lejeune, which specialized in its study, defines it as “ a retrospective account in prose that a real person makes her own existence, when it stresses its individual life, in particular on the history of her personality. ”

History of the autobiography

The first autobiography “recognized” as such is that of Rousseau, the Confessions dating from the 18th century (of which the title was inspired by the Confessions of Saint Augustin which, they, do not correspond exactly to the kind of the autobiography: indeed, although they are one of the first works of introspection, the purpose of the Confessions of Augustin are not to stress the individual singularity of the author, but contrary to in general presenting his life like a intellectual and spiritual advance characteristic of the human condition).

The autobiographical kind put much time to impose itself, even if one can find many works older there being connected, though by not respecting scrupulously all the principles (Augustin d' Hippone, the Confessions, and even Jules César, Commentaires on the War of Gaules being attached to the kind of the Mémoires). With the Moyen-âge exist only the Biographie S and the Hagiographie S, even if certain works as the Book of Margery Kempe , mystic English of XVe century, also contain many autobiographical elements. At the 16th century, with the humanism, the kind continues thanks to the interest centered on the individual. One sees it with Montaigne and his Essais , although the absence of chronology defends us to affix the name of autobiography there in a strict sense. Nevertheless, during the traditional period, she hardly knows true projection, because one does not appreciate few speaking excessively about oneself (“me is hateful for It”, according to Blaise Pascal). It is a little later, in 1782 that Rousseau writes the first true autobiography - with the modern direction of the term: the Confessions (of aucuns hold nevertheless the Essais of Montaigne for work founder of the kind).

At the 19th century, following Rousseau, the “accounts of life” know a true passion and many authors will write their autobiography, such Chateaubriand ( Mémoires of in addition to-falls ) and Stendhal ( Vie of Henri Brulard ). Moreover with the appearance of the romanticism, the " moi" becomes with the mode and we thus witness a multiplication of autobiographical works.

At the 20th century, the autobiography changes nature with the development of the Social sciences: Psychoanalysis, Sociology and Ethnologie marks a turning there, in particular with the appearance of the concept of unconscious. The autobiography is interiorized and the social justification grows blurred with the profit of a difficult search of oneself.

Characteristics of the kind

According to Philippe Lejeune, one finds behind the autobiography a “pact” concluded between the reader and the author: the autobiographer undertakes to sincerity and, in return, waits of the reader until he believes it on word. It is the “autobiographical Pacte”. The author must tell the truth, showing himself such as it is, free to ridicule or expose publicly his defects. Only the problem of the memory can go against this pact.

The autobiographical project is thus characterized by the presence of three “I”. That of the author, the narrator, and the principal character. In the case of the autobiography, three “I” merge, while being separated by time. The alliance from these three “I” belongs to the autobiographical pact.

For the remainder, the autobiographical project of each writer is particular for him. It is often defined in foreword: that of the Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau is considered as founder.

The autobiography combines two complementary movements:

  • the Introspection: methodical observation of the author on his interior life,
  • the Retrospection: glance behind on the last facts.
It is today a kind diversified and in full expansion, through the parallel kinds which are the Autofiction and the Diary.

Difficulties

The author of an autobiography encounters many difficulties as regards the respect of the autobiographical Pacte, among which:

  • the problem of the memory, with the image of Rousseau which says in the Confessions to want to supplement its account by “some indifferent ornament” if its memory had suddenly betrayed it, or of Montaigne, which in its Essais , “About the Cannibals”, complains about its bad memory (“they answered three things, from where I lost the third, and am well marri; but I have of them two more in memory”);

  • the difficulty of the use of words for the description of certain elements of lived, as Nathalie Sarraute which hesitates, in Enfance , between several terms in order to describe a Tropisme;
  • the temporal shift enters it “I” present and it “I” last;
  • need for the recourse to third testimonys (for example for Chateaubriand, which describes its own birth in the Mémoires of In addition to-fall ), all the more likely to be skewed or inaccurate;
  • the possible repression of a painful memory (Marguerite Duras, the Lover of China of North where it uses the third nobody of the singular to describe his painful childhood);
  • moral censure (Decency) imposed by suitabilities;
  • possible need to attenuate too extravagant truths to make credible the account (example: the Novel of the Garden );
  • conformity with the argued message that work was given for goal to transmit or to show (example: the Words of Sartre);
  • necessarily esthetic character of the autobiography, which can prevent from revealing the truth (“the paradox of the autobiography, its essence double game, is to claim to be at the same time veracious speech and work of art”, Philippe Lejeune).
  • the authenticity: the concern of ordering its narration, to with the proper perspective give a direction to its acts by taking them can encourage an author to propose a falsified image because rebuilt itself
  • incompletion: the autobiography is indeed dedicated to being unfinished, and it is a truism: the author cannot tell his death…

Functions for the author

Various factors train an author to write his autobiography, and in particular:

  • will to leave a testimony, to fight against the lapse of memory (example: Primo Levi, If it is a man );

  • will to reach the posterity in the writing;
  • need for relieving themselves, for releasing themselves from a weight, for even confessing themselves (Holy Augustin, the Confessions );
  • the desire for analyzing itself for better knowing, to draw up an image of oneself, an assessment of its life, to call themselves in question (Sartre, the Words );
  • obligation to justify itself (Rousseau, the Confessions );
  • the possibility of using it to defend a thesis, a point of view, or to transmit a message, sometimes with the detriment of the impartiality and accuracy of the facts (Sartre, the Words ; Rousseau, the Confessions , " Flight of Pommes");
  • the possibility of creating an image, a desired appearance and of presenting it to the reader, it is a means of making change the glance of the others on its person, a kind of influence (but the pact of sincerity is broken)
  • the possibility of reminding elements which he forgot ( W or the memory of childhood of Georges Perec)

Interests for the reader

The autobiography is of many interests for its reader, for example:
  • the possibility of being identified with the author thanks to the universal character of certain facts presented (for example, the Birth, the Childhood, the Love, etc);
  • the possibility of learning a lesson from the life exposed for the benefit of his;
  • literary qualities of work;
  • the possibility of better including/understanding the person, or her work;
  • historical interest: one time painting.

Kinds of the autobiography

  • the pure autobiography: My life of Leon Trotsky in is an good example.
  • the confession: Thus Me, Pierre River, having cut the throat of my mother, my sister and my brother , having presented later by Michel Foucault.
  • Memories: Memories of war , the general Charles de Gaulle
  • the Diary, like the Newspaper of Jules Fox or that of the Brothers Goncourt.
  • the Test: reflection on the human condition starting from an personal experience “ I am myself the matter of my book ” ( the Tests of Montaigne);
  • the Autobiographical novel traditional: With the research of time lost of Marcel Proust in is an excellent example, which approaches the autofiction.
  • the Autofiction: this recent concept translates the setting into fiction of a personal life ( the Promise of the paddle of Romain Gary). A autofiction is an account where there are an alternation between real life of the author and fiction. This share of fiction is in general essential to include/understand work, it is indissociable of this one. For example in W or the memory of childhood of Georges Perec, the fiction is used to describe things which the author did not manage to express differently. Thus, through the Olympic city that it depicts, one can rather easily recognize the camps of death.
  • the Fragment. This fragmentary treatment of the memory, the memory, was that chosen by much since Joe Brainard and its I remember , dating from the years 1960. Georges Perec builds thus his I remember ; Do Herve Tellier answers thousand times the single question “with what you think”? in the amnesics did not live anything of unforgettable ; Valerie Mrejen tells her relations with his/her father in this fragmentary form in its novel wild Eau ; Edouard Raised made follow one another without logic connects the sentences in Autoportrait .

Examples of autobiographies

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