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Autbigraphy Everyone has a story t tell. Each resulting f an episode in ur life becomes a story in which each f us and ther's play a part (Randall, 1995). Autbigraphy is mst recognized and researched as a literary rather than an educational tl. It emerged at the end f the 18 th century frm a tradition that has variously been called a member r confession (the mst notable being the religious Cnfessin's f St. Augustine). Later, it developed and writers int a self-analysis, less related t sin and transgression and mre t intimacy, email, and self-understanding (Feski, 1998).
Autbigraphy as a tl fr self-reflection and self-knowledge in adult education has had little attention, and its potential is the subject f this paper. In the past quarter century it has commanded even greater attention, through the psychoanalytic and philosophical analysis in James lney's (1980) edited writings, and in feminist literary analysis, as in Smith and Waters (1996, 1998) edited collections. Hwarth (1980) described autobiography as a self-portrait wrk f art that resembles the life that itself continues t take shape. Following frm Hwarth's definition, ne could surmise that adult learners (like their literary counterparts) wh reflect n their lives in this manner embark als n a press f recollection, distillation, and analysis that can yield bth insight int lifes meaning and purpose and understanding f self and ther's. Learning in the service f self-awareness and self-understanding writing ur life involves deeper levels f the person; it entails the processes f critical reflection, self-awareness, meaning making, and perspective change (Mezirw, 1991; Tennant & Post, 1995).
Educators whse gal is the growth f awareness and understanding have incorporated experiential methods such as small-grup press and journal writing t aid the press f self-reflection that is integral t this purpose. Teachers f writing skills als have caught n t autobiographical writing as a tl that permits students t write in their wn vice with perhaps less sense f intimidation than is engendered through the mre traditional methods. Autbigrapher's can vary their use f time as well as their mix f fantasy and reality. Just as people have difficulty pinpointing when a human life begins, s des the autobiographer have difficulty pinpointing at what pint the self begins, at conception, at birth, at the first men f conscious thought, r perhaps during a particularly relevant fantasy r dream.
And when des an autobiography end? Is it at the men that the writer stp's writing? A biographer usually includes the beginning, middle, and the end f a persons life. The autobiographer may live n and n, perhaps lng enough fr several mre lives r changes f the self.
Autbigraphies sometimes reveal things that their authors d nt even know abut themselves until they put their life n the paper. A good example is Hemingway's book A Moveable Feast. In this autobiography, the author gives much attention to famous people he met, Paris, the way he lived, than he does to his family. He does not talk about his role of husband and father. That somehow tells his readers that the family not the most important thing for him at that time, even though he never directly stated that.
ne f the great autobiographic bks is Judith ric Cfer's, Silent Dancing. It is an intriguing personal narrative, which creates an instant curiosity within the reader. The structure f this bk is creative in that Cfer writes each chapter as a different phase / aspect f her life and creates a desire, fr the reader, t read n. Cfer writes f her child and specific memories she hld's f her family and herself.
Her shared memories f child all her bk t be well understand and all her readers t relate t their wn personal childhd's. In addition, Cfer's shared memories f her life in Puert Ric and the emphasis n her family's culture had n her life, is very insightful. She pens a wide window int the Puert Rican culture and allw's her readers t see her life as it truly was. Reading autobiographies, such as Silent Dancing, gives a chance t reflect back n wn lives, and gives an ppr tunity fr validation and self-acceptance. Readers are able t better put things in perspective, t balance their positive and negative experiences. Sme people associate authors experiences with their wn nes.
Sme recall hw they had always seen their lives mre in terms f the negative experiences, and just like Cfer did, they tried t put these ut f theirs minds, she were still burdened with the negative memories. Seeing ther people ding and feeling things yu d and feel, makes it k, and gives cart with self. In a seemingly easy narrative f remembrance, ric Cfer brilliantly weaves in dense yet accessible political thought n the relationship between the conifer and the claimed through her literary genius: her keen use f metaphor. ric Cfer's utu conversational tne is engaging and un intimidating even in the face f the deep issues she raises and the hard questions she subtly yet clearly asks. Through "Silent Dancing, " Judith ric Cfer takes the reader and fr a very enlightening june through her self-explain and self-definition. ric Cfer discusses the ways that race, class, gender, and culture interact in shaping her life experiences with sending dogmatic r naive.
She was the series ne, the ne with the talent, the ne whm Gd made a little stern, with big eyes that tk in the entire world and her. She was frm the typical heat f Puert Ric, t the cld tenements f William Carl's Williams' Papers, where half the year she lived as though paying penance fr an entire family's ambition. Is it any water this yung girl grew up t be a pet, a novelist, and a taker f incredible artistic risks? As her talents grew, she began t think f herself as belonging, day, t tw nations, a Northern and Southern hemisphere that corresponded t her wn fluidity, her ability t change genre in the middle f a sentence. ric Cfer has lng been ne f America's cultural heres. Nw she strips back the legends f her youth t help us see the seeds f creativity which, r s sme day, we all have been brn with, even when bs cured by circumstance.
After reading this collection, many people would be me t d sme "silent dancing" f their wn. Anther great autobiography, which describes authors life and still leaves sme space fr his imagination is This By's Life by This Wlff. Leaving Sarasota, Florida, in a run-do Nash Rambler in 1955, Try Wlff, then ten, and his mother are line forward t a new life in Utah. Nt lng after arriving, however, the tw make a sudden, night-time departure fr newer pastures in Seattle -- the mother's abusive relationship in Utah having become intolerable.
Later Try and his mother gravitate t Chink, a remote village in the Cascades. His mother marries a though man wh cruelly punishes Try (wh has changed his name t Jack in her f Jack London) fr infractions, sells sme f Try's belongings, and tries t enforce military discipline n him. Wlff's story f his grim life frm age ten through high schl is a breath-taking recreation, filled with the srt's f longings that motivate sensitive yung bys everywhere, but als filled with an a self-awareness that is rare in such autobiographies. Jack (Try) is a rebel - a sometimes kleptomaniac, thief, cheater, liar, and schley miscreant wh level his mother, hates his stepfather (and generally tries t avid him), and hangs ut with similarly alienated, hell-raising schoolmates, wh free "escape" through all.
When he is a share in high schl, he talks with his lder better fr the first time in six years. His better, nw a student at Princetn, remained with his father when his parents split, and he encourages Jack t apply as a scholarship student t an eastern bring schl, thereby escaping his step-father and starting yet anther new life. Jack's nly academic interest t date has been in writing, thanks t the inspiration f his English teacher, but he is intrigued with the idea f escape. The story f hw Wlff lies and cheats his way int a prep schl is a classic. Thought this self-examination, which is hilariously funny in many places and remarkably astute, Jack sees himself as the "Jack" he invents t suit circumstances, while simultaneously revealing himself as he really is, the hidden "Jack. " Like many his age, he free takes the easy way ut, and he recognizes this, t.
As he grapples with perennial issues f growing up, needing t be accepted, learning what is "right, " and changing his behavior t meet the differing expectations f peers, family, and the preacher with whm he lives fr three months, he cme's t new understandings abut himself and his place in the world. It may be argued that bth Silent Dancing and This Bys Life d nt present the picture f a true autobiography, in that they very free give fragmented details f the events and characters. The reader is drawn frm ne event r character t anther. Though there are elements f history and autobiography, it is a quest t present the author as the her f the piece- his r her personal triumphs ver the situations faced. Autbigraphies are a valuable way f learning history. However, as a fiction, the passport description is nly given brief references.
The reader is left t imagine the rest. This could be party due t the fact that there is a tendency nt t dwell n things, t keep the reader with constant anecdotes (something abut everything). Yes, everyone has a story t tell. Sme people d it naturally and easily. Mre and mre people are ding this srt f writing in re t justify themselves r t gain public sympathy and support (Clarke, 1999). Sometimes autobiography is utilized fr therapeutic purpse's, r t stimulate creative writing.
Autbigraphy can als be realized as an established method fr teaching r learning. Its power as a tl fr self-knowledge and self-development has nt been recognized, nr has its potential fr enlarging ur understanding f adult learners and thereby drawing ut frm them the experiences and valued qualities that can contribute s plenty t the learning environment. Bibliography: Clarke, B. (1999) cfer. Why member isnt. The Chronicle f Higher Education, XLVI (10), B 9. Cfer, J...
Silent Dancing. Arte Public Press (January, 1990) Feski, R. (1998). n confession. In S. Smith & J.
Was (Eds. ), When, autobiography, the: A reader (pp. 83 - 95). Main, WI: University f Wisconsin Press. Hemingway, E. A Moveable Feast Hwarth, W. L. (1980).
Sme principles f autobiography. In J. line (Ed. ), Autbigraphy: Essays there tical and critical (pp. 84114). Princetn: Princetn University Press.
Mezirw, J. (1991). Fostering critical reflection in adult. San Francisco: Jersey-Bass. line, J. (1980). Autbigraphy and the cultural men: A thematic, historical and bibliographical introduction. In J.
line (Ed. ), Autbigraphy: Essays there tical and critical (pp. 327). Princetn: Princetn University Press. Randall, W. (1995). The series we are: An essay n self-creating. Trnt: University f Trnt Press.
Wlff, T. This By's Life. Give Press (March, 2000)
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