"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. Analyzing 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."--Publisher's description.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-138) and index.

Confession, conversion, testimony -- The journeying self -- Autobiographical consciousness -- Autobiography and psychoanalysis -- Family histories and the autobiography of childhood -- Public selves -- Self-portraiture, photography, and performance -- Autobiographies, autobiographical novels, and autofictions.