Autobiography in English Literature

Autobiography is a form of non-fictional literature, the subject of which is the life of an individual, written by him self. In it the subject recounts his or her own history. It can be seen as a branch of history, because it depends on a selective ordering and interpretation of materials, written and oral, established around the writer’s personal life.

Autobiographies belong to the branch of confessional literature. In the Romantic Period, many writers’ confided their thoughts and feelings to the readers. They explored the depths of their souls. Rousseau’s Confession, George Moore’s Confessions of a young Man belong to this kind of literature. Autobiographies are to be distinguished from memories and diary or journal. Memories record mainly the people and the events that the author has seen and experienced. Diary is a day-to-day record of the events in a man’s life. But autobiographies trace the development of the author from childhood to maturity through interaction with other characters and events.

Benjamin Franklin, John Stuart Mill, Winston Churchill wrote autobiographies, which, in their truth and design are remarkable achievements. Nirad C. Chaudhuri’s “The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian” deserves mention for its vigorous and bold description of the passing away of Indo-British culture.
But autobiographical writing can easily pass into fiction when rational inference or conjecture pass over into imaginative reconstruction or frank invention or when the subject itself is wholly or partly imaginary.

Biography in English Literature

Biography is a form of non-fictional literature, the subject of which is the life of an individual. In general, the form is considered to include auto-biography, in which the subject recounts his or her own history. Biography can be seen as a branch of history, because it depends on a selective ordering and interpretation of materials, written and orals, established through research and personal recollection. It can also be seen as a branch of imaginative literature in that it seeks to convey a sense of the individuality and significance of the subject through creative sympathetic insight.

The earliest biographical writing probably consisted of funeral speeches and inscriptions, usually praising the life and example of the deceased. Particular philosophical, religious, or political causes were often popularized by biographical means. Plato and Xenophon helped to vindicate Socrates by writing about his life as well as his teaching.

But the major developments of English biography came in the 18th century with Samuel Johnson’s critical lives of the English poets and James Boswell’s massive life of Johnson, which combines detailed records of conversation and behavior with considerable psychological insight. This provided the model for exhaustive, monumental 19th century biographies such as A.P. Stanley’s “Life of Arnold” and Lord Morley’s “Gladstone”.

But biographical writing can easily pass into fiction when rational reference or conjecture passes over into imaginative reconstruction or frank invention or when the subject itself is wholly or partly imaginary.

Point of View in English Literature

In literary works point of view means the perspective through which the writers’ presents his characters and events. It indicates the relationship between the narrator and the narrative. There are many variations and combinations of point of view.

In omniscient, the narrator of the piece narrator of the story, comments on the characters, and situations and direct our responses and reactions to the development of plot and character. The technique adopted here is that of third person. The Omniscient mode enables the writer to present the inner thoughts and feelings of his characters, as in his movement from character to character and event to event he has free access to their motivations, thoughts and feelings. Examples: Jane Austin’s “Pride and Prejudice”.

In autobiographical method, the narrative technique is that of the first person. In this method, the author or writer identifies himself with one of the characters. He must himself see or hear almost everything that happens. In this method, the relationship between the narrator and the story is legitimate. But we get the perspective of the narrator character only and we do not penetrate into the hearts and thoughts of the other characters’ as we do in Omniscient. Example: Rudyard Kipling’s “The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes”.

There is another point of view of a single character that the author uses as the central character of participant in the action. The story is narrated in the third person, the central character is followed throughout the action and the reader is restricted to the field of vision and range of knowledge of the character alone. This method is called the Central intelligence. Example: Arthur Conan Doel’s “Sherlock Homes”.