In 1809, Isaac D’Israeli wrote, ‘if the populous of writers become thus querulous after fame (to which they have no pretensions) we shall expect to see an epidemical rage for auto-biography break out.’ 200 years later, and Jordan/Katie Price has already published four different autobiographies. Was D’Israeli right? I have never read Price’s work, so it would be unfair to call her books soulless, worthless artefacts of a fame-hungry, talentless attention-vacuum. But these autobiographies turn some truly amazing people into quality literature.
Boys and their Tales of Childhood
The critic Clive James brings all the wit of his newspaper columns to his own life in his Unreliable Memoirs. His childhood in post-war, suburban Sydney is startlingly honest and surprisingly captivating. Not only that, but his autobiography is undeniably, irresistibly hilarious. If you can’t stop laughing, he has written four more volumes.
Roald Dahl understood children like no other author. Boy: Tales of Childhood is technically written for his younger audience, but, for his grown-up fans, it not only describes his early life, but transports you back into the mind that created gigantic flying peaches and Big Friendly Giants.
Also recommended: My Family and Other Animals, Gerald Durrell
Fictionalized Tales
In the introduction to Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson writes, ‘Is Oranges an autobiographical novel? No not at all and yes of course.’ There is nothing straightforward about her story of a girl, also Jeanette, coming-out to her evangelical church community. She stretches the truth into art, inserting rewritten fairy tales and structuring her life like the Bible, yet there is a sincere, honest heart to the fictionalized novel.
Semi-autobiographical works are the ultimate incarnation of ‘writing what you know’ and there are countless such novels. Some noteworthy examples include: Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence, David Copperfield, Charles Dickens; The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath.
Untold Tales
We know almost nothing about Shakespeare. He did not write an autobiography. The next best thing, however, is Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare: The World as a Stage, which entertainingly skips through what we can puzzle out about the legendary writer.
Claire Tomalin is the queen of literary biographies. Jane Austen may have had a dull life on the surface, but Tomalin brings out the sharp intelligence that makes Austen one of the best-loved authors in the English language.
This article orginally appeared in Epigram (Issue 237, 21/03/2011, p. 20).
Another well-written column Ms Cawse. Epigram is lucky to have you.
ReplyDeleteAt some point, I'll swap you 'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit' for 'The Passion' (which I'm fairly sure isn't autobiographical, though it does make me want to go to Venice).