Confessions of a Burned-Out Biographer

Displacement, Identity and Belonging

“…There have been myriad theorists who have hypothesized about the nature of autobiography, and the justifications for it being utilized as a literary form (Benstock, 1988;Blackburn, 1980;Blaise, 1996;Codrescu, 1994;Fischer, 1994;Haaken, 1998;Iles, 1992;Jelinek, 1980;Johnson, 1996;Kuhn, 1995;Pirani, 1992;Rhiel & Suchoff, 1996;Rose, 1996;Sasaki, 1996).There has also been a growing interest on its usage as a research method for the past twenty five years (Brettell, 1997;Lionnet, 1989;Nilson, 1992). Autobiography relies upon the narrative form, in order to construct a personal, individual, oral history of a life lived and experienced, understood through the impulses of existence (Samuel, 2003).…”