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This work explores the "authority" of autobiography in several related senses: first, the idea that autobiography is authoritative writing because it is presumably verifiable; second, the idea that one's life is one's exclusive textual domain; third, the idea that, because of the apparent congruence between the implicit ideology of the genre and that of the nation, autobiography has a special prestige in America. Aware of the recent critiques of the notion of autobiography as issuing from, determined by, or referring to a pre-existing self, Couser examines the ways in which the authority of particular texts is called into question--for example, because they involve pseudonymity (Mark Twain), the revision of a presumably spontaneous form (Mary Chesnut's Civil War "diaries"), bilingual authorship (Richard Rodriguez and Maxine Hong Kingston), collaborative production (Black Elk), or outright fraud (Clifford Irving's "autobiography" of Howard Hughes). Couser examines both the way in which canonical autobiographers may playfully and purposely undermine their own narrative authority and the way in which minority writers' control of their lives may be compromised. Autobiography, then, is portrayed here as an arena in which individuals struggle for self-possession and self-expression against the constraints of language, genre, and society.
This work investigates the concept of authority within American autobiography, questioning how the genre balances claims of truth, self-possession, and cultural prestige. G. Thomas Couser, a scholar of life writing, examines the tension between the traditional view of autobiography as a verifiable account of a pre-existing self and modern critical perspectives that challenge the stability of the authorial voice. By analyzing a diverse range of texts, he argues that autobiography functions as a contested space where individuals negotiate their identity against the limitations of language, genre conventions, and societal expectations.
What You Will Find
Scholars of American literature frequently cite this text as a foundational study for understanding the complexities of self-representation and the instability of the autobiographical form. The prose is noted for its academic rigor and its ability to synthesize theoretical critique with concrete textual analysis.
Page Count:
304
Publication Date:
1989-11-09
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
019505833X
ISBN-13:
9780195058338
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