“Who ever heard, indeed, of an autobiography that was not (interesting)? I can recall none in all the literature of the world.” – Henry Louis Mencken (American writer)
I couldn’t agree more Mr. Mencken. Autobiographies are typically written by people whose lives have had some large impact on the world or are in some other way appealing to a mass audience. When looking up lists of most popular or top selling autobiographies, some consistent results included Anne Frank, Malcolm X, Barack Obama, Bob Dylan, and Adolf Hitler (www.goodreads.com). It is evident that the top autobiographies are of lives that are interesting to many readers. Similar to our discussions about a portrait, I feel that most who get a portrait commissioned of themselves have some national importance at the least. Likewise, those who make their life stories permanent by writing it down feel they have something worthwhile to get across to a large population.
I don’t necessarily feel that this should be the case. I believe that everyone’s life has its important aspects that make it worthy enough for an autobiography. However, there would be a smaller group of readers interested say in my story versus a young Jewish girl who describes her experiences during the Nazi regime. Anyone can write an autobiography, but the success of each person’s depends largely on how exciting the general public feels one’s life is. And the stakes are getting higher since more and more "ordinary" people seem to be living more outrageous lives.
While it seems appealing, at first glance, to live a life worth writing about, I am content with fitting into the norm and being ordinary at the moment. The alternative would be a life of dramatic experiences, both good and bad. I am certain that I will go through situations that are deemed worthy enough of an autobiography, but for the time being I’m satisfied with my not so autobiographical life.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Would you say Anne Frank knew she will be this important while she was keeping her diary? Did Barack Obama knew he will one day be the president of the USA while he was writing Dreams from My father?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the time period in which one is writing his autobiography is important- and whether that timing changes our perception of that individual...
That's an interesting point. I feel like the time period is crucial to the autobiography and how it is received by the readers. Obama's book was obviously written before his presidency at a time when he was well liked by a large portion of the general public. However, it would be interesting to see how popular his autobiography would be during his term or even after his term when his approval ratings may fluctuate.
ReplyDelete