Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives

by Sidonie Smith

Autobiographical writing is redefining the meaning of narrative, as the recent explosion of memoirs by writers such as Frank McCourt, Mary Karr, Dave Eggers, and Kathryn Harrison suggests. But what’s involved in bringing these narratives into the classroom—in creative writing, cultural studies, women’s and ethnic studies, and social science and literature courses? How may instructors engage the philosophical, historical, social, and theoretical contexts of the emerging field of autobiography studies?Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, two authorities in life narrative studies distill their diverse forays into life writing in a concise yet far-reaching overview of key terms, issues, histories, and texts in autobiography studies. Reading Autobiography is a step-by-step introduction to the differences of self-narrative from fiction and biography; the components of autobiographical acts; such core concepts as memory, experience, identity, agency, and the body; the textual and critical history of the field; and prospects for future research. Organized as a user-friendly handbook, it includes a glossary of key words, suggestions for teaching, and extensive primary and secondary bibliographies. Sidonie Smith is professor of English and women’s studies at the University of Michigan. Julia Watson is associate professor of comparative studies at Ohio State University.

Genres: Nonfiction, Academic, Memoir, Writing, Research, Theory, Grad School

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Sidonie Smith is the Martha Guernsey Colby Collegiate Professor of English and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan.

Reviews

[Jessica J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote my master's thesis on how gender is represented in contemporary memoirs written by women. I could not have written it without this book - comprehensive, readable, and full of detailed examples. Not for the layman by any means, but if literary theory as it applies to self-writing is of interest to you, this is an excellent place to start!

[Mert · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 Stars (%62/100)

I've used this book as a textbook in my Life Writing master class. I think it is a very good source especially if you are new to this area of literature. Before reading the book and taking the course, I had no idea what life writing was. It is also very ironic that Smith, despite arguing that we should call it life writing or life narratives, chose the word autobiography for the title. Overall, it is a useful book and a good source to cite certain things. However, I found it complicated at times and it is quite long. I still recommend it if you are interested in memoirs and autobiographies, sorry I mean life narratives. My favorite term from the book is "thanatography" which comes from the Greek God of Death Thanatos and means narratives that deal with one's experience with death.

[Shirin A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essential text to approach autobiographical texts. Incredibly thorough on theory and criticism, albeit a little repetitive in some places. In spite of it being a treasure trove of information, it often feels too wordy and reads like an overwritten academic text - which I can partly forgive on the basis of the fact that dealing with complex concepts is no easy task. I will certainly return to this guide soon enough.

[Sajede · Rating 3 out of 5]

finding new writers, that's the outcome

[StrangeBedfellows · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good resource for anyone new to autobiographies, particular for classes. It informs on autobiographical writings, instructs on how to read autobiographies, and even contains exercises for better understanding. Of course, it definitely has that textbook 'feel', so it's not the kind of book you would read for personal enjoyment.

[Pinar G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for my History Master's class. Too much reference to scholary stuff. Luckily there is a tool kit at the end

[Andrea Cruz]

This was an assigned text for one of my graduate seminars. I enjoyed the dissection of each formula of autobiography. I find it truly fascinating how we as readers don’t consider the different components involving tone, addressee, intention, visual images, geographical location, content, etc and how it impacts one’s life narrative along with our experience in reading. All of these aspects really formulate our perception and understanding of someone’s life based on a controlled/uncontrolled setting.

[Mila Menna · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 I did think this book was good overall. There were parts that I would consider pretty obvious conclusions about autobiography that I already knew. It’s really theory heavy and sometimes too convoluted when parts could easily be summarized in a more accessible, understandable way. Overall though, I’m glad I read it and I feel like it’s a must read for anyone teaching, into creative writing, or interested in English.

[WallofText · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is by no means a perfect book but it offers a lot of interesting and valuable information. There are a number of repetitions, the language isn’t the most accessible, it’s wordy and at times really outdated, but the structure is really well done and I learned a lot about life writing.

A new edition could do a lot of good for this book especially to start using they more consistently throughout and to refer to polyamory as such and not as bisexuality which is something completely unrelated.

[Luke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fine for what I needed to get out of it for a class, but dry as hell.

[Alma Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource on how to analyze autobiography and memoir.

[Joule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Western autobiographies and criticism (Chapter 5 & 6). Very useful and informative for me (bachelor's level).

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super useful for my thesis on autobiography in relation to obesity.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic resource for teaching autobiographies.

[Eszter Szép · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a good summary of what has recently happened in the study of autobiography. I really appreciate the two chapters that were not part of the first edition, they open up the book and the authors' concept of autobiography to other media, visuality, comics, virtual stuff, and performance.

[Silke Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent intro into the genre - even if it is 20 years old. great for classroom preparation, general knowledge about the field and lots of info about things you might also use for the understanding of literature generally.

[Liesa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Useful book for my master dissertation; well written.

[Joanna Eleftheriou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just got this in the mail. Looks excellent. If I were to teach a course on memoir/autobiography, I'd use this--just enough theory for an upperclass undergrad, and well written.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is repetitive to a fault and somewhat obvious. It does bring up very interesting and unique ideas, but it doesn't grasp the readers.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A useful starting point for reading autobiography...especially the toolkit in the final pages.

[Joe Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview. Too much academia jargon.