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3.16 Epistolary Autobiography

  • Karl Enenkel
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Handbook of Autobiography / Autofiction
This chapter is in the book Handbook of Autobiography / Autofiction
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction: Autobiography/Autofiction Across Disciplines 1
  4. 1.1 Anthropology 11
  5. 1.2 Brain Research and Neuroscience 18
  6. 1.3 Cultural Studies 30
  7. 1.4 Deconstruction 39
  8. 1.5 Discourse Analysis 45
  9. 1.6 Gender Studies 54
  10. 1.7 Hermeneutics 64
  11. 1.8 History 73
  12. 1.9 History of Art 82
  13. 1.10 Media Studies 94
  14. 1.11 Narratology 103
  15. 1.12 Philosophy 111
  16. 1.13 Political Science 122
  17. 1.14 Postcolonialism 130
  18. 1.15 Psychology 136
  19. 1.16 Psychoanalysis 148
  20. 1.17 Religious Studies 156
  21. 1.18 Rhetoric 165
  22. 1.19 Social History 175
  23. 1.20 Sociology 182
  24. 1.21 Structuralism 191
  25. 1.22 Theology 200
  26. 2.1 Apologia 211
  27. 2.2 Authenticity 216
  28. 2.3 Autobiographical Pact 222
  29. 2.4 Autobiography and the Nation 228
  30. 2.5 Autoethnography 232
  31. 2.6 Autofiction 241
  32. 2.7 Automediality 247
  33. 2.8 Ego-documents 262
  34. 2.9 Ethics of Autobiography 268
  35. 2.10 Ethos and Pathos 275
  36. 2.11 Facts and Fiction 280
  37. 2.12 Gender 287
  38. 2.13 Genealogy 293
  39. 2.14 The (Term) ‘I’ 300
  40. 2.15 Identity 305
  41. 2.16 Individuality 310
  42. 2.17 Intentionality 320
  43. 2.18 Life and Work 327
  44. 2.19 Life Writing 336
  45. 2.20 Memory 342
  46. 2.21 Mimesis 350
  47. 2.22 Minorities 358
  48. 2.23 Paratext 364
  49. 2.24 Personality 372
  50. 2.25 Prosopopoeia 378
  51. 2.26 Referentiality 384
  52. 2.27 The ‘Self’ 390
  53. 2.28 Sincerity 398
  54. 2.29 Subjectivity 402
  55. 2.30 Time and Space 410
  56. 2.31 Topics of Autobiography/Autofiction 416
  57. 2.32 Trauma 423
  58. 2.33 Truth 429
  59. 3.1 Architecture 437
  60. 3.2 Autobiographical/Autofictional Comics 441
  61. 3.3 Autobiographical/Autofictional Film 446
  62. 3.4 Autobiographical Music 456
  63. 3.5 Autobiographical Novel 464
  64. 3.6 Autobiographical/Autofictional Poetry 473
  65. 3.7 Autobiographical Visual Arts, esp. Painting 485
  66. 3.8 Autobiography and Drama/Theater 497
  67. 3.9 Autobiography 503
  68. 3.10 Confessions 520
  69. 3.11 Conversations 532
  70. 3.12 Curriculum Vitae 537
  71. 3.13 Autobiography in/as Dance 542
  72. 3.14 Diary 547
  73. 3.15 Digital Life Narratives/Digital Selves/ Autobiography on the Internet 557
  74. 3.16 Epistolary Autobiography 565
  75. 3.17 Epitaph 579
  76. 3.18 Essay 584
  77. 3.19 Fake Autobiography 595
  78. 3.20 Fictional Autobiography 603
  79. 3.21 Interview 611
  80. 3.22 Letter, E-mail, SMS 617
  81. 3.23 Memoirs 626
  82. 3.24 Metaautobiography 636
  83. 3.25 Oral Forms 640
  84. 3.26 Photography 648
  85. 3.27 Self-Narration 658
  86. 3.28 Self-Portrait 663
  87. 3.29 Testimony/Testimonio 669
  88. 3.30 Travelogue 675
  89. Introduction: Autobiography Across the World, Or, How Not To Be Eurocentric 683
  90. 1.1 Antiquity 691
  91. 1.2 Middle Ages 710
  92. 1.3.1 Autobiographies in the Latin Language (1300–1700) 724
  93. 1.3.2 Autobiographies in the Vernacular 732
  94. 1.4 Modernity 753
  95. 1.5 Postmodernity 778
  96. 2.1 Introduction 807
  97. 2.2 Classical Arabic Autobiography 827
  98. 2.3 Modern Autobiography 850
  99. 3.1 Introduction 897
  100. 3.2 Pre-colonial Times 901
  101. 3.3 Colonial Times 910
  102. 3.4 Post-colonial Times 923
  103. 4.1 India 967
  104. 4.2 South East Asia: The Case of Laos 985
  105. 4.3 Indonesia 1006
  106. 4.4 China 1026
  107. 4.5 Japan 1059
  108. 5.1 Australia 1087
  109. 5.2 New Zealand 1114
  110. 6.1 Latin America 1143
  111. 6.2 North America 1205
  112. 7. Autobiography in the Globalized World 1263
  113. Introduction: Exemplary Autobiographical/ Autofictional Texts, Or, How Not To Set Up A Canon 1281
  114. 1. Isocrates: Περὶ ἀντιδόσεως (353 BCE) [Antidosis] and Lucian: Περὶ τοῦ ἐνυπνίου (2nd Century) [Dream] 1285
  115. 2. Plato: ἀπολογία (3rd Century BCE) [Apology of Socrates] 1301
  116. 3. Sima Qian: 報任少卿書 [Letter to Ren An] (93/91 BCE) and Other Autobiographical Writings 1312
  117. 4. Publius Ovidius Naso: Tristium Libri V (8–12) [“Sorrows”] 1328
  118. 5. Aurelius Augustinus: Confessiones (397–401) [Confessions] 1342
  119. 6. Izumi Shikibu: 和泉式部日記 (11th Century) [The Izumi Shikibu Diary] 1359
  120. 7. Muḥammad al-Ghazālī: المنقذ من الضلال (5th/12th Century) [Deliverance from Error and Attachment to the Lord of Might and Majesty] 1373
  121. 8. Francesco Petrarca: Secretum [‘My Secret’; ‘Secret Book’] / De secreto conflictu curarum mearum (Mid-14th Century) [On the Secret Struggles of My Mind] 1386
  122. 9. ‘ Abd al-Raḥmān Ibn Khaldūn: التعريف بابن خلدون (8th/14th Century) [The Autobiography] 1397
  123. 10. Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur: بابر نامه (First Third of 10th/16th Century until 935/1529) [Baburnama, ‘Babur’s Book’] 1410
  124. 11. Teresa de Ávila: El Libro de la Vida (1562) [The Life of the Holy Mother Teresa de Jesús] 1425
  125. 12. Michel de Montaigne: Les Essais (1580, 1588, 1595) [The Essays] 1439
  126. 13. Francisco Guerrero: El Viage a Hierusalem (1590) [Voyage to Jerusalem] 1456
  127. 14. Avvakum Petrov: Житие протопопа Аввакума, им самим написанное (17th Century) [Life of Avvakum] 1470
  128. 15. John Bunyan: Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666) 1485
  129. 16. Anne Halkett: The Autobiography of Anne, Lady Halkett, 1677–78 (1875) 1499
  130. 17. Glikl bas Judah Leib: Zikhroynes (1691–1719) [Memoirs] 1511
  131. 18. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: The Turkish Embassy Letters (1763) 1525
  132. 19. Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1791 sq.) 1539
  133. 20. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Les Confessions (1782/1789) [The Confessions] 1554
  134. 21. Johann Wolfgang Goethe: Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit (1811–1833) [From My Life: Poetry and Truth] 1573
  135. 22. William Wordsworth: The Prelude (1850) 1590
  136. 23. Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself (1861) 1603
  137. 24. Lev Nikolaevič Tolstoj: Детство (1852) [Childhood] 1618
  138. 25. Ned Kelly: The Jerilderie Letter (1879) 1633
  139. 26. August Strindberg: Tjänstekvinnans Son. En Själs Utvecklingshistoria (1886) [The Son of a Servant] 1646
  140. 27. Mark Twain: Autobiography of Mark Twain (1870–1910) 1659
  141. 28. Franz Kafka: Brief an den Vater (1919) [Letter to His Father] 1672
  142. 29. Alban Berg: Lyric Suite (1925/1926) 1688
  143. 30. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: [An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth] 1703
  144. 31. Walter Benjamin: Berliner Kindheit um Neunzehnhundert (1930s) [Berlin Childhood around 1900] 1719
  145. 32. Hu Shi: 四十自述 (1933) [An Autobiographical Account at Forty] and 胡適口述自傳 (1981) [The Reminiscences of Dr. Hu Shih] 1737
  146. 33. Anaïs Nin: The Diary of Anaïs Nin (1931–1974) 1750
  147. 34. Sachchidanand Hiranand Vatsyayan [“Ajneya”/“Agyeya” (‘Unknowable’)] 1762
  148. 35. Czesław Miłosz: Rodzinna Europa (1958) [Native Realm] 1777
  149. 36. Karen Blixen: Out of Africa (1937) 1794
  150. 37. Michel Leiris: La Règle du Jeu (1948–1976) [The Rules of the Game] 1806
  151. 38. Albert Memmi: La Statue de Sel (1953) [The Pillar of Salt] 1822
  152. 39. Hal Porter: The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony: An Australian Autobiography (1963) 1838
  153. 40. Vladimir Nabokov: Speak, Memory. An Autobiography Revisited (1966) 1851
  154. 41. Frank Sargeson: Once is Enough (1973) 1866
  155. 42. Roland Barthes: roland BARTHES par roland barthes (1975) [Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes] 1878
  156. 43. Imre Kertész: Sorstalanság (1975) [Fateless/Fatelessness] 1892
  157. 44. María Teresa León: Memoria de la Melancholia (1970) [Memory of Melancholy] 1906
  158. 45. Wole Soyinka: Ake: The Years of Childhood (1981) 1921
  159. 46. Jeroen Brouwers: Bezonken Rood (1981) [Sunken Red] 1932
  160. 47. Michael Ondaatje: Running in the Family (1982) 1948
  161. 48. Sally Morgan: My Place (1987) 1963
  162. 49. Serge Doubrovsky: Le Livre Brisé (1989) [The Broken Book] 1977
  163. 50. Elfriede Jelinek: Ein Sportstück (1998) [Sports Play] 1989
  164. 51. Najīb Maḥfūẓ: أصداء السيرة الذاتية (Aṣdā’ al-sīra al-dhātiyya) (1994) [Echoes of an Autobiography] 2002
  165. 52. Walter Kempowski: Das Echolot (1993–2005) [Sonar] 2016
  166. 53. Gabriel García Márquez: Vivir Para Contarla (2002) [Living to Tell the Tale] 2030
  167. 54. J.M. Coetzee: Boyhood (1997) and Youth (2002) 2049
  168. 55. Xavier Le Roy: Product of Circumstances (1998/1999) 2064
  169. 56. Alison Bechdel: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006) 2074
  170. 57. Jane Alison: The Sisters Antipodes: A Memoir (2009) 2089
  171. List of Contributors 2103
  172. Subject Index 2105
  173. Name Index 2132
  174. Abbreviations XIII
  175. Preface: The Concept of this Handbook XV
  176. Frontmatter I
  177. Frontmatter I
  178. Contents V
  179. Contents V
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110279818-072

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction: Autobiography/Autofiction Across Disciplines 1
  4. 1.1 Anthropology 11
  5. 1.2 Brain Research and Neuroscience 18
  6. 1.3 Cultural Studies 30
  7. 1.4 Deconstruction 39
  8. 1.5 Discourse Analysis 45
  9. 1.6 Gender Studies 54
  10. 1.7 Hermeneutics 64
  11. 1.8 History 73
  12. 1.9 History of Art 82
  13. 1.10 Media Studies 94
  14. 1.11 Narratology 103
  15. 1.12 Philosophy 111
  16. 1.13 Political Science 122
  17. 1.14 Postcolonialism 130
  18. 1.15 Psychology 136
  19. 1.16 Psychoanalysis 148
  20. 1.17 Religious Studies 156
  21. 1.18 Rhetoric 165
  22. 1.19 Social History 175
  23. 1.20 Sociology 182
  24. 1.21 Structuralism 191
  25. 1.22 Theology 200
  26. 2.1 Apologia 211
  27. 2.2 Authenticity 216
  28. 2.3 Autobiographical Pact 222
  29. 2.4 Autobiography and the Nation 228
  30. 2.5 Autoethnography 232
  31. 2.6 Autofiction 241
  32. 2.7 Automediality 247
  33. 2.8 Ego-documents 262
  34. 2.9 Ethics of Autobiography 268
  35. 2.10 Ethos and Pathos 275
  36. 2.11 Facts and Fiction 280
  37. 2.12 Gender 287
  38. 2.13 Genealogy 293
  39. 2.14 The (Term) ‘I’ 300
  40. 2.15 Identity 305
  41. 2.16 Individuality 310
  42. 2.17 Intentionality 320
  43. 2.18 Life and Work 327
  44. 2.19 Life Writing 336
  45. 2.20 Memory 342
  46. 2.21 Mimesis 350
  47. 2.22 Minorities 358
  48. 2.23 Paratext 364
  49. 2.24 Personality 372
  50. 2.25 Prosopopoeia 378
  51. 2.26 Referentiality 384
  52. 2.27 The ‘Self’ 390
  53. 2.28 Sincerity 398
  54. 2.29 Subjectivity 402
  55. 2.30 Time and Space 410
  56. 2.31 Topics of Autobiography/Autofiction 416
  57. 2.32 Trauma 423
  58. 2.33 Truth 429
  59. 3.1 Architecture 437
  60. 3.2 Autobiographical/Autofictional Comics 441
  61. 3.3 Autobiographical/Autofictional Film 446
  62. 3.4 Autobiographical Music 456
  63. 3.5 Autobiographical Novel 464
  64. 3.6 Autobiographical/Autofictional Poetry 473
  65. 3.7 Autobiographical Visual Arts, esp. Painting 485
  66. 3.8 Autobiography and Drama/Theater 497
  67. 3.9 Autobiography 503
  68. 3.10 Confessions 520
  69. 3.11 Conversations 532
  70. 3.12 Curriculum Vitae 537
  71. 3.13 Autobiography in/as Dance 542
  72. 3.14 Diary 547
  73. 3.15 Digital Life Narratives/Digital Selves/ Autobiography on the Internet 557
  74. 3.16 Epistolary Autobiography 565
  75. 3.17 Epitaph 579
  76. 3.18 Essay 584
  77. 3.19 Fake Autobiography 595
  78. 3.20 Fictional Autobiography 603
  79. 3.21 Interview 611
  80. 3.22 Letter, E-mail, SMS 617
  81. 3.23 Memoirs 626
  82. 3.24 Metaautobiography 636
  83. 3.25 Oral Forms 640
  84. 3.26 Photography 648
  85. 3.27 Self-Narration 658
  86. 3.28 Self-Portrait 663
  87. 3.29 Testimony/Testimonio 669
  88. 3.30 Travelogue 675
  89. Introduction: Autobiography Across the World, Or, How Not To Be Eurocentric 683
  90. 1.1 Antiquity 691
  91. 1.2 Middle Ages 710
  92. 1.3.1 Autobiographies in the Latin Language (1300–1700) 724
  93. 1.3.2 Autobiographies in the Vernacular 732
  94. 1.4 Modernity 753
  95. 1.5 Postmodernity 778
  96. 2.1 Introduction 807
  97. 2.2 Classical Arabic Autobiography 827
  98. 2.3 Modern Autobiography 850
  99. 3.1 Introduction 897
  100. 3.2 Pre-colonial Times 901
  101. 3.3 Colonial Times 910
  102. 3.4 Post-colonial Times 923
  103. 4.1 India 967
  104. 4.2 South East Asia: The Case of Laos 985
  105. 4.3 Indonesia 1006
  106. 4.4 China 1026
  107. 4.5 Japan 1059
  108. 5.1 Australia 1087
  109. 5.2 New Zealand 1114
  110. 6.1 Latin America 1143
  111. 6.2 North America 1205
  112. 7. Autobiography in the Globalized World 1263
  113. Introduction: Exemplary Autobiographical/ Autofictional Texts, Or, How Not To Set Up A Canon 1281
  114. 1. Isocrates: Περὶ ἀντιδόσεως (353 BCE) [Antidosis] and Lucian: Περὶ τοῦ ἐνυπνίου (2nd Century) [Dream] 1285
  115. 2. Plato: ἀπολογία (3rd Century BCE) [Apology of Socrates] 1301
  116. 3. Sima Qian: 報任少卿書 [Letter to Ren An] (93/91 BCE) and Other Autobiographical Writings 1312
  117. 4. Publius Ovidius Naso: Tristium Libri V (8–12) [“Sorrows”] 1328
  118. 5. Aurelius Augustinus: Confessiones (397–401) [Confessions] 1342
  119. 6. Izumi Shikibu: 和泉式部日記 (11th Century) [The Izumi Shikibu Diary] 1359
  120. 7. Muḥammad al-Ghazālī: المنقذ من الضلال (5th/12th Century) [Deliverance from Error and Attachment to the Lord of Might and Majesty] 1373
  121. 8. Francesco Petrarca: Secretum [‘My Secret’; ‘Secret Book’] / De secreto conflictu curarum mearum (Mid-14th Century) [On the Secret Struggles of My Mind] 1386
  122. 9. ‘ Abd al-Raḥmān Ibn Khaldūn: التعريف بابن خلدون (8th/14th Century) [The Autobiography] 1397
  123. 10. Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur: بابر نامه (First Third of 10th/16th Century until 935/1529) [Baburnama, ‘Babur’s Book’] 1410
  124. 11. Teresa de Ávila: El Libro de la Vida (1562) [The Life of the Holy Mother Teresa de Jesús] 1425
  125. 12. Michel de Montaigne: Les Essais (1580, 1588, 1595) [The Essays] 1439
  126. 13. Francisco Guerrero: El Viage a Hierusalem (1590) [Voyage to Jerusalem] 1456
  127. 14. Avvakum Petrov: Житие протопопа Аввакума, им самим написанное (17th Century) [Life of Avvakum] 1470
  128. 15. John Bunyan: Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666) 1485
  129. 16. Anne Halkett: The Autobiography of Anne, Lady Halkett, 1677–78 (1875) 1499
  130. 17. Glikl bas Judah Leib: Zikhroynes (1691–1719) [Memoirs] 1511
  131. 18. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: The Turkish Embassy Letters (1763) 1525
  132. 19. Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1791 sq.) 1539
  133. 20. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Les Confessions (1782/1789) [The Confessions] 1554
  134. 21. Johann Wolfgang Goethe: Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit (1811–1833) [From My Life: Poetry and Truth] 1573
  135. 22. William Wordsworth: The Prelude (1850) 1590
  136. 23. Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself (1861) 1603
  137. 24. Lev Nikolaevič Tolstoj: Детство (1852) [Childhood] 1618
  138. 25. Ned Kelly: The Jerilderie Letter (1879) 1633
  139. 26. August Strindberg: Tjänstekvinnans Son. En Själs Utvecklingshistoria (1886) [The Son of a Servant] 1646
  140. 27. Mark Twain: Autobiography of Mark Twain (1870–1910) 1659
  141. 28. Franz Kafka: Brief an den Vater (1919) [Letter to His Father] 1672
  142. 29. Alban Berg: Lyric Suite (1925/1926) 1688
  143. 30. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: [An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth] 1703
  144. 31. Walter Benjamin: Berliner Kindheit um Neunzehnhundert (1930s) [Berlin Childhood around 1900] 1719
  145. 32. Hu Shi: 四十自述 (1933) [An Autobiographical Account at Forty] and 胡適口述自傳 (1981) [The Reminiscences of Dr. Hu Shih] 1737
  146. 33. Anaïs Nin: The Diary of Anaïs Nin (1931–1974) 1750
  147. 34. Sachchidanand Hiranand Vatsyayan [“Ajneya”/“Agyeya” (‘Unknowable’)] 1762
  148. 35. Czesław Miłosz: Rodzinna Europa (1958) [Native Realm] 1777
  149. 36. Karen Blixen: Out of Africa (1937) 1794
  150. 37. Michel Leiris: La Règle du Jeu (1948–1976) [The Rules of the Game] 1806
  151. 38. Albert Memmi: La Statue de Sel (1953) [The Pillar of Salt] 1822
  152. 39. Hal Porter: The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony: An Australian Autobiography (1963) 1838
  153. 40. Vladimir Nabokov: Speak, Memory. An Autobiography Revisited (1966) 1851
  154. 41. Frank Sargeson: Once is Enough (1973) 1866
  155. 42. Roland Barthes: roland BARTHES par roland barthes (1975) [Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes] 1878
  156. 43. Imre Kertész: Sorstalanság (1975) [Fateless/Fatelessness] 1892
  157. 44. María Teresa León: Memoria de la Melancholia (1970) [Memory of Melancholy] 1906
  158. 45. Wole Soyinka: Ake: The Years of Childhood (1981) 1921
  159. 46. Jeroen Brouwers: Bezonken Rood (1981) [Sunken Red] 1932
  160. 47. Michael Ondaatje: Running in the Family (1982) 1948
  161. 48. Sally Morgan: My Place (1987) 1963
  162. 49. Serge Doubrovsky: Le Livre Brisé (1989) [The Broken Book] 1977
  163. 50. Elfriede Jelinek: Ein Sportstück (1998) [Sports Play] 1989
  164. 51. Najīb Maḥfūẓ: أصداء السيرة الذاتية (Aṣdā’ al-sīra al-dhātiyya) (1994) [Echoes of an Autobiography] 2002
  165. 52. Walter Kempowski: Das Echolot (1993–2005) [Sonar] 2016
  166. 53. Gabriel García Márquez: Vivir Para Contarla (2002) [Living to Tell the Tale] 2030
  167. 54. J.M. Coetzee: Boyhood (1997) and Youth (2002) 2049
  168. 55. Xavier Le Roy: Product of Circumstances (1998/1999) 2064
  169. 56. Alison Bechdel: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006) 2074
  170. 57. Jane Alison: The Sisters Antipodes: A Memoir (2009) 2089
  171. List of Contributors 2103
  172. Subject Index 2105
  173. Name Index 2132
  174. Abbreviations XIII
  175. Preface: The Concept of this Handbook XV
  176. Frontmatter I
  177. Frontmatter I
  178. Contents V
  179. Contents V
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