Reading Autobiography

Abstract

Abstract With the memoir boom, life storytelling has become ubiquitous and emerged as a distinct field of study. This book presents a critical introduction to life writing in all its forms. It aims to help with the reading and interpreting of autobiographical texts and presents various methods for this across the humanities, social sciences, and visual and performing arts. This edition lays out a sophisticated, theoretical approach to life writing and the components of autobiographical acts, including memory, experience, identity, embodiment, space, and agency. The book explores these components, reviews the history of life writing and the foundations of autobiographical subjectivity, and provides a toolkit for working with twenty-three key concepts. The survey of innovative forms of life writing, such as autographics and installation self-portraiture, charts recent shifts in autobiographical practice.

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