Autobiography: Installment No.3

ESSAY 3

Writing an autobiography involves a matching up of a specific plot-structure with a set of historical events. The autobiographer wishes to endow these events with a particular meaning. Some writers see this process as "essentially a literary, that is to say, fiction-making operation." The document, the autobiography, is still a historical narrative. It is one of the ways a culture has of making sense of both personal and public events. For it is not the events of a life that are reproduced through the writer's description; rather, it is a direction to think about these events, a charging of the events with "different emotional valences," that the writer produces. Of course, a writer does not like to see his work as a translation of "facts" into "fiction." But the crisis in both historical thought and in the writing of autobiography may be illumined by the insights gained from this perspective.

The ordering of events in a temporal sequence does not provide any necessary explanation of why the events occurred; for a history, an autobiography, is not only about events, it is also about possible sets of relationships, only some of which are immanent in those events. For the most part they exist in the mind of the writer and the language he or she uses. Hayden White argues that "if there is an element of the historical in all poetry, there is an element of poetry in every historical account." History is made sense of in the same way that the poet or novelist tries to make sense of it. The unfamiliar and mysterious is made familiar. Both the real and the imagined are subjected to a process aimed at making sense of reality. For this reason history often appears fictionalized and poetry often appears like reality, like history. Writers of poetry and fiction, says Hayden, impose formal coherence on the world in the same way writers of history do.

Such a view, if taken seriously, would go a long way to freeing historians from being captive of ideological preconceptions. Drawing historiography closer to its origins in literary sensibility, in the literary imagination, may help to increase understanding. For an increase in facts does not necessarily bring understanding. Chronicles of events, the sense of 'what really happened,' types of configurations of events, the emplottment of sequences of events, are determined as much by what facts are put in as what are left out and by the extent to which the writer can engage in constant currection and revision, in tireless seeking out of new information.

Aristotle saw poetry as unified, intelligible and based on the subordination of the part to the ends of the whole. History on the other hand was organized around continuity and succession, a congeries of events and is not intelligible in the same way as poetry is. He associated history with the unexpected, the uncontrollable, the unsystematic. Poetry he saw as part of an ordered and coherent schema. Poetry was, to Aristotle, a more serious, a more philosophical, business than history. It speaks of universals; history of particulars.

About the Author:

Ron Price
2.1 Articles and Reviews: Journals
1. * "A History of the Baha'i Faith in the Northern Territory: 1947-1997," Northern Lights, 25 Installments, 2000-2002.
2. * Periodic Articles, poems and letters in "Newsletters," Regional Teaching Committees of the NSA of the Baha'is of Australia Inc., 1971-2001.
3. * Periodic Articles, poems and letters, Baha'i Canada and The Australian Baha'i Bulletin, 1971-2001.
4. * "Memorials of the Faithful," Baha'i Studies Review, September 2001.
5. * "Review of Two Chapbooks: The Poetry of Tony Lee," Arts Dialogue, June 2001.
6. * "Asia and the Lost Poems: The Poetry of Anthony Lee," Art 'n Soul, a Website for Poets and Poetry, January 2000.
7. * "The Passionate Artist," Australian Baha'i Studies, Vol.2, 2000.
8. * "Memorials of the Faithful," Australian Baha'i Studies, Vol.1, No.2, 1999, p.102.
9. * "Poetry of Ron Price: An Overview," ABS Newsletter, No.38, September 1997.
10. * "Thomas a Kempis, Taherzadeh and the Day of Judgement," Forum, Vol.3, No 1, 1994, pp.1-3.

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Getting To Know Your Characters

Interesting characters that readers care about are the most important... Read More

Win More Clients, Projects and Freelance Jobs By Making Three Small Changes

Iā??ve spoken to hundreds of editors, employers, and project managers... Read More

How To Write More Powerful Reports

There is one key difference between reports and most other... Read More

Through the Eyes of an Artist

As writers, we initially tend to be either more cerebral... Read More

How To Stay Fit While Writing

Day after day, writers tend to sit for hours writing... Read More

Autobiography: Installment No.3

ESSAY 3Writing an autobiography involves a matching up of a... Read More

Gut Check: Quitting Your Full-time Job for Your Freelance Career

It's 6:00 p.m. You're dead tired, but instead of an... Read More

Does Each Element of Your Story Further The Theme?

Creative Writing Tips ?Whichever theme you choose, all the elements,... Read More

6 Ways to Jump-Start Your Writing Day

1. PLAY A GAME LIKE SOLITAIRE....for half an hour or... Read More

6 Tricks To Squeeze Your Letters Onto One Page

Anyone who has read any of my articles on the... Read More

Writers Block - Melting the Ice

What does one do as a writer who loves writing... Read More

The Psychology Of Effortless Writing

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of... Read More

Comma Usage Made Simple

Don't they drive you nuts?You can visit all the rules... Read More

How to Finish Your Self-Published Book Fast

Started a book and then got bogged down? Like many... Read More

Eight Ways To Write Your Novel Faster

I asked several writers how long it took them to... Read More

And What Do You Do? ... How To Know When Youre a Writer!

It's the funniest thing. When someone asks me what I... Read More

Have You Completed A Character Questionnaire?

Creative Writing Tips ?Complete a character questionnaire for each of... Read More

Who Else Wants To Make $3546 By Simply Pressing a Button!

If you have been online for any length of time... Read More

Think Market!

Griselda spent hours polishing up her resume. No detail was... Read More

Want to start a publishing revolution?

Calling all publishers, editors, journalists and freelance writers. It's time... Read More

Getting Looked Over, Without Getting Overlooked: Writing for Scanners and Skimmers

* Scanning and Skimming Practices *Whether you're writing e-mail messages... Read More

How To Write Cover Letters That Work

Sometimes there is confusion about the exact meaning of the... Read More

Freelance or Staff

There is no doubt that a staff writer enjoys advantages... Read More

Getting Published Is Different For Everyone: Two Paths Among Many

One obvious question that can get overlooked in the process... Read More

Starting a Local Writers Group

My husband is no poet, so when I offer my... Read More

How I Became a Syndicated Columnist -- And You Can Too!

Real Estate has "Location, location, location," and writing has "Clips,... Read More

Platform Development Tip #1: Switch Writing Hats!

Around eighty percent of nonfiction books today are written by... Read More

Benjamin Franklin: His Ageless Writing Tips

If Ben Franklin were alive today, he would be...uh, very... Read More

What Nationally Published Columnist, Cindy Laferle Has To Say About Writing & Journalism

Today Norm Goldman, Editor of sketchandtravel and bookpleasures is honored... Read More

Writing from Home: It Can Be Great and Not-So-Great for Mothers

I went to school to be a teacher. In fact,... Read More

The Prologue - When to Use One, How to Write One

What is a prologue? When should you use one? Should... Read More

Writers Turn to the Internet for Support, Friendship and Advice

Riding on the fumes of potential, you take pen to... Read More

When I Run Out of Ideas

I do on occasion run out of ideas for my... Read More