自伝とは「自画像」とも「自己演出」とも解釈できるものですが、最も人気のある著述形式のひとつといえます。本書では回想録、日誌、書簡、日記、随筆など、類似するその他の形式とも比較しながら自伝とは何かを考えます。そこ綴られる告白、改宗、証言、愛や理想の探究、旅…ここに時や記憶、そしてアイデンティティはどのように関わってくるのでしょうか。著者の意識をはじめ、心理分析と自伝との関係、フィクションと自伝がどう影響し合っているかについても探ります。
 

• Defines what autobiographies are, and considers their relationship with similar literary forms such as memoirs, journals, letters, diaries, and essays
• Discusses how this form of writing provides literary critics, philosophers, historians and psychologists with an understanding of the ways in which past lives have been lived
• Analyses how autobiography offers the most fundamental accounts of what it means to be a self in the world
• Considers the core themes in autobiographical writing, such as confession, romanticism, and family relationships
• Explores the ways in which fiction and autobiography have shaped each other.

 
Autobiography is one of the most popular of written forms. From Casanova to Benjamin Franklin to the Kardashians, individuals throughout history have recorded their own lives and experiences. These personal writings are central to the work of literary critics, philosophers, historians and psychologists, who have found in autobiographies from across the centuries not only an understanding of the ways in which lives have been lived, but the most fundamental accounts of what it means to be a self in the world. 
   
In this Very Short Introduction Laura Marcus defines what we mean by 'autobiography', and considers its relationship with similar literary forms such as memoirs, journals, letters, diaries, and essays. Analysing the core themes in autobiographical writing, such as confession, conversion and testimony; romanticism and the journeying self; Marcus discusses the autobiographical consciousness (and the roles played by time, memory and identity), and considers the relationship between psychoanalysis and autobiography. Exploring the themes of self-portraiture and performance, Marcus also discusses the ways in which fiction and autobiography have shaped each other.