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Literature vocabulary · Genres and Forms

Autobiography

Meaning in literature, with examples

/ˌɔːtəbaɪˈɒɡrəfi/nounCommon term

In literature, autobiography means: An account of a person's whole life, or most of it, written by that person, usually in the first person and in chronological order.

In Turkish: otobiyografi, özyaşamöyküsü

How it is used

Used in publishing, history and literary studies. Augustine's Confessions is often called the first Western autobiography. Critics also discuss the autobiographical novel, where a writer turns his or her own life into fiction. Compare biography (someone else's life) and memoir.

Example sentences

  1. In his autobiography, the poet describes his childhood in a village near Konya.

  2. The novel is strongly autobiographical, but the author insists it is fiction.

Common collocations

  • write an autobiography
  • autobiographical novel
  • autobiographical elements
  • spiritual autobiography
  • memoirA nonfiction book in which the author writes about personal memories of a particular period, experience or theme in his or her life.
  • nonfictionWriting about real people, events and facts, such as biographies, memoirs, essays, history and travel books.
  • first-person narratorA narrator who is a character in the story and tells it using 'I', so readers see events only through that character's eyes.
  • authorThe person who wrote a particular book, poem, play or other text.

More terms: Genres and Forms

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