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Writing history/writing about yourself: What’s the difference?
Fitzpatrick, Sheila
Fitzpatrick, Sheila
Author
Abstract
[Extract] According to Philippe Lejeune, writers of autobiography implicitly sign a pact with the reader to tell the truth, or at least the truth as they know it, about themselves. That is, primarily a subjective truth. As for facts, the expectation is presumably that autobiographers will convey the facts as they know or remember them, but without a necessary obligation to check their memory through documentary or other research. There is no autobiographer’s commitment to objectivity, rather the contrary. The autobiographical truth is, by definition, a subjective one.
Keywords
biography, autobiography, history
Date
2017
Type
Book chapter
Journal
Book
Clio’s Lives: Biographies and Autobiographies of Historians
Volume
Issue
Page Range
17-37
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
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Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled