Telling Lies In Modern American Autobiography

Author : Timothy Dow Adams
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2017-10-10
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781469639406

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Telling Lies in Modern American Autobiography by Timothy Dow Adams Pdf

All autobiographers are unreliable narrators. Yet what a writer chooses to misrepresent is as telling -- perhaps even more so -- as what really happened. Timothy Adams believes that autobiography is an attempt to reconcile one's life with one's self, and he argues in this book that autobiography should not be taken as historically accurate but as metaphorically authentic. Adams focuses on five modern American writers whose autobiographies are particularly complex because of apparent lies that permeate them. In examining their stories, Adams shows that lying in autobiography, especially literary autobiography, is not simply inevitable. Rather it is often a deliberate, highly strategic decision on the author's part. Throughout his analysis, Adams's standard is not literal accuracy but personal authenticity. He attempts to resolve some of the paradoxes of recent autobiographical theory by looking at the classic question of design and truth in autobiography from the underside -- with a focus on lying rather than truth. Originally published in 1990. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Author : Paul John Eakin
Publisher : Univ of Wisconsin Press
Page : 302 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 1991
Category : American prose literature
ISBN : 0299127842

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American Autobiography by Paul John Eakin Pdf

This is the first comprehensive assessment of the major periods and varieties of American autobiography. The eleven original essays in this volume do not only survey what has been done; they also point toward what can and should be done in future studies of a literary genre that is now receiving major scholarly attention. Book jacket.

Author : Rachael McLennan
Publisher : Edinburgh University Press
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2012-11-26
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780748644629

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American Autobiography by Rachael McLennan Pdf

The first student guide to American autobiographys introduction to the major forms of autobiographical writing in America and important current developments in autobiography studies discusses both 'canonised' texts and those from contemporary writers. Taking a broadly chronological approach, the history of American autobiography is explored including the social and cultural factors that might account for the importance of autobiography in American culture. Then post-1970 autobiographies are examined, taking into account the development in poststructuralism from this time that affected notions of the subject who could write, and conceptions of truth, identity and reference.

Author : Keneth Kinnamon
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 499 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2014-11-04
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781476609126

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Richard Wright by Keneth Kinnamon Pdf

African-American writer Richard Wright (1908–1960) was celebrated during the early 1940s for his searing autobiography (Black Boy) and fiction (Native Son). By 1947 he felt so unwelcome in his homeland that he exiled himself and his family in Paris. But his writings changed American culture forever, and today they are mainstays of literature and composition classes. He and his works are also the subjects of numerous critical essays and commentaries by contemporary writers. This volume presents a comprehensive annotated bibliography of those essays, books, and articles from 1983 through 2003. Arranged alphabetically by author within years are some 8,320 entries ranging from unpublished dissertations to book-length studies of African American literature and literary criticism. Also included as an appendix are addenda to the author’s earlier bibliography covering the years from 1934 through 1982. This is the exhaustive reference for serious students of Richard Wright and his critics.

Author : Michael C. Coleman
Publisher : Univ. Press of Mississippi
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Ethnology
ISBN : 1604730099

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American Indian Children at School, 1850-1930 by Michael C. Coleman Pdf

Drawn from Native American autobiographical accounts, a study revealing white society's program of civilizing American Indian schoolchildren

Author : Jim Lane
Publisher : Univ of Wisconsin Press
Page : 262 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2002-04-29
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9780299176532

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The Autobiographical Documentary in America by Jim Lane Pdf

Since the late 1960s, American film and video makers of all genres have been fascinated with themes of self and identity. Though the documentary form is most often used to capture the lives of others, Jim Lane turns his lens on those media makers who document their own lives and identities. He looks at the ways in which autobiographical documentaries—including Roger and Me, Sherman’s March, and Silverlake Life—raise weighty questions about American cultural life. What is the role of women in society? What does it mean to die from AIDS? How do race and class play out in our personal lives? What does it mean to be a member of a family? Examining the history, diversity, and theoretical underpinnings of this increasingly popular documentary form, Lane tracks a fundamental transformation of notions of both autobiography and documentary.

Author : Steven R. Serafin,Alfred Bendixen
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 1340 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2005-09-01
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0826417779

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The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature by Steven R. Serafin,Alfred Bendixen Pdf

More than ten years in the making, this comprehensive single-volume literary survey is for the student, scholar, and general reader. The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature represents a collaborative effort, involving 300 contributors from across the US and Canada. Composed of more than 1,100 signed biographical-critical entries, this Encyclopedia serves as both guide and companion to the study and appreciation of American literature. A special feature is the topical article, of which there are 70.

Author : John C. Inscoe
Publisher : University of Georgia Press
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2011-05-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780820339689

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Writing the South through the Self by John C. Inscoe Pdf

Drawing on two decades of teaching a college-level course on southern history as viewed through autobiography and memoir, John C. Inscoe has crafted a series of essays exploring the southern experience as reflected in the life stories of those who lived it. Constantly attuned to the pedagogical value of these narratives, Inscoe argues that they offer exceptional means of teaching young people because the authors focus so fully on their confrontations—as children, adolescents, and young adults—with aspects of southern life that they found to be troublesome, perplexing, or challenging. Maya Angelou, Rick Bragg, Jimmy Carter, Bessie and Sadie Delany, Willie Morris, Pauli Murray, Lillian Smith, and Thomas Wolfe are among the more prominent of the many writers, both famous and obscure, that Inscoe draws on to construct a composite portrait of the South at its most complex and diverse. The power of place; struggles with racial, ethnic, and class identities; the strength and strains of family; educational opportunities both embraced and thwarted—all of these are themes that infuse the works in this most intimate and humanistic of historical genres. Full of powerful and poignant stories, anecdotes, and testimonials, Writing the South through the Self explores the emotional and psychological dimensions of what it has meant to be southern and offers us new ways of understanding the forces that have shaped southern identity in such multifaceted ways.

Author : Ben Yagoda
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2009-11-12
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781101151471

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Memoir by Ben Yagoda Pdf

From a critically acclaimed cultural and literary critic, a definitive history and analysis of the memoir. From Saint Augustine?s Confessions to Augusten Burroughs?s Running with Scissors, from Julius Caesar to Ulysses Grant, from Mark Twain to David Sedaris, the art of memoir has had a fascinating life, and deserves its own biography. Cultural and literary critic Ben Yagoda traces the memoir from its birth in early Christian writings and Roman generals? journals all the way up to the banner year of 2007, which saw memoirs from and about dogs, rock stars, bad dads, good dads, alternadads, waitresses, George Foreman, Iranian women, and a slew of other illustrious persons (and animals). In a time when memoir seems ubiquitous and is still highly controversial, Yagoda tackles the autobiography and memoir in all its forms and iterations. He discusses the fraudulent memoir and provides many examples from the past?and addresses the ramifications and consequences of these books. Spanning decades and nations, styles and subjects, he analyzes the hallmark memoirs of the Western tradition?Rousseau, Ben Franklin, Henry Adams, Gertrude Stein, Edward Gibbon, among others. Yagoda also describes historical trends, such as Native American captive memoirs, slave narratives, courtier dramas (where one had to pay to NOT be included in a courtesan?s memoir). Throughout, the idea of memory and truth, how we remember and how well we remember lives, is intimately explored. Yagoda's elegant examination of memoir is at once a history of literature and taste, and an absorbing glimpse into what humans find interesting--one another.

Author : Sidonie Smith,Julia Watson
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
Page : 610 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2010-07-02
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781452931081

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Reading Autobiography by Sidonie Smith,Julia Watson Pdf

With the memoir boom, life storytelling has become ubiquitous and emerged as a distinct field of study. Reading Autobiography, originally published in 2001, was the first comprehensive critical introduction to life writing in all its forms. Widely adopted for undergraduate and graduate-level courses, it is an essential guide for students and scholars reading and interpreting autobiographical texts and methods across the humanities, social sciences, and visual and performing arts. Thoroughly updated, the second edition of Reading Autobiography is the most complete assessment of life narrative in its myriad forms. It lays out a sophisticated, theoretical approach to life writing and the components of autobiographical acts, including memory, experience, identity, embodiment, space, and agency. Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson explore these components, review the history of life writing and the foundations of autobiographical subjectivity, and provide a toolkit for working with twenty-three key concepts. Their survey of innovative forms of life writing, such as autographics and installation self-portraiture, charts recent shifts in autobiographical practice. Especially useful for courses are the appendices: a glossary covering dozens of distinct genres of life writing, proposals for group and classroom projects, and an extensive bibliography.

Author : James Robert Payne
Publisher : Univ. of Tennessee Press
Page : 380 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 1992
Category : American prose literature
ISBN : 0870497405

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Multicultural Autobiography by James Robert Payne Pdf

Author : Arnaud Schmitt
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2017-05-08
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781351701013

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The Phenomenology of Autobiography by Arnaud Schmitt Pdf

Taking a fresh look at the state of autobiography as a genre, The Phenomenology of Autobiography: Making it Real takes a deep dive into the experience of the reader. Dr. Schmitt argues that current trends in the field of life writing have taken the focus away from the text and the initial purpose of autobiography as a means for the author to communicate with a reader and narrate an experience. The study puts autobiography back into a communicational context, and putting forth the notion that one of the reasons why life writing can so often be aesthetically unsatisfactory, or difficult to distinguish from novels, is because it should not be considered as a literary genre, but as a modality with radically different rules and means of evaluation. In other words, not only is autobiography radically different from fiction due to its referentiality, but, first and foremost, it should be read differently.

Author : Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 177 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2023-12-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9781350413191

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Autobiographical Traditions in Egodocuments by Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon Pdf

Using the Icelandic context, Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon examines egodocuments as distinct and fascinating manifestations of microhistory, reflecting on their nature, the circumstances in which they originated, and their strengths and weaknesses for scholarly research. Autobiographical Traditions in Egodocuments successfully makes the case for egodocuments being an intriguing part of the material culture of their time, with ample consideration given to the role of the book within individual households and the impact a source such as autobiography has had on people's daily lives. Magnússon also provides an insightful historiographical account of how the egodocument has been used in historical works both in Iceland and elsewhere in the world since the 19th century.

Author : Jonathan D’Amore
Publisher : Springer
Page : 197 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2012-06-08
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780230390683

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American Authorship and Autobiographical Narrative by Jonathan D’Amore Pdf

This book explores the conflicted relationship writers have with their public image, particularly when they have written about their personal lives. D'Amore analyzes the autobiographical works of Norman Mailer, John Edgar Wideman, and Dave Eggers in light of theories of authorship, autobiography, and celebrity.

Author : David Lowenthal
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 679 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2015-10
Category : History
ISBN : 9780521851428

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The Past is a Foreign Country - Revisited by David Lowenthal Pdf

A completely updated new edition of David Lowenthal's classic account of how we reshape the past to serve present needs.