What type of writing is most similar to an autobiography — There is also Autobiography Vs biography Vs Memoir, meanings, examples and the differences.
What Type Of Writing Is Most Similar To An Autobiography : The Nitty Gritty of Autobiography, Biography and Memoir as Memory Book Formats, Characteristics, and Examples
What type of writing is most similar to an autobiography — This question is quite fundamental in order to properly have a distinct clarification between the primary formats of a memory book, which are used to tell the story of someone's life. It's exclusive to the person's adventures, regrets, challenges, and several travails in life. The three most prominent of such formats are memoir, biography, and autobiography. However, there are some distinctions among them, despite the appealing similarities they share.
A sneak peek at what type of writing is most similar to an autobiography: memoir. Read further to learn why!
In order to have an in-depth clarity as to what type of writing is most similar to an autobiography and to avoid mere conjectures, it's primarily a necessity to consider the exact meanings of these three prominent formats of memory books, their similarities, and what distinction features separate one from the other. Here is a similar distinction between copywriting and content writing
What Type Of Writing Is Most Similar To An Autobiography —An Explicit Comparison and Distinction Between Autobiography, Biography and Memoir
We shall consider the nitty-gritty of autobiography, biography, and memoir.
What Is An Autobiography
.jpeg "Nelson Mandela autobiography a long walk to freedom")
What is an autobiography? An autobiography is a literary work of nonfiction that describes a factual story that features real people and events. In other words, it is a factual written account of a person's life story written by that person. Autobiographies are written in the first person and employ features like plot, character, and setting that are usually and evidently common in fictional works.
To give it a more precise definition, the word autobiography can be broken down into parts and separately assigned meanings: "auto" means "self," "bio" means "life," and "graphia" means "record or account."
The essence of an autobiography is to depict the life experiences and achievements of the author, and as a result, they are often written at the end of the subject's life. On this basis, it is usually a chronological portrayal of someone's life experiences, starting from his or her early childhood and featuring some key events and moments throughout the author's life. They feature essential details such as the subject's education, career, marriage, challenges, achievements, et al.
In a few instances, an autobiography may also be written through the proper perusal of the person's diary or memoir as a primary or secondary source. However, in such instances, the author must ensure that the storyline is chronologically organized.
Autobiography Examples
The world's first autobiography work is arguably "Confessions" by St. Augustine of Hippo, written around 397–400 CE. Although it is disputed on a smaller scale by the work of the Chinese historian Sima Qian, which dates back to the second century BCE, it's less reputed because it is believed to contain a lesser autobiographical narrative when compared to St. Augustine's.
There are undoubtedly numerous number of autobiography examples written by several prominent personalities in history. The notable and most famous ones are:
- Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
- The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
- Dreams of My Father by Barack Obama
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass
- Agatha Christie: An Autobiography by Agatha Christie
What Is A Biography
.jpeg "Biography of the happiest man on earth")
What is a biography? As stated earlier, in order to have a grasp on what type of writing is most similar to an autobiography, it is equally essential to consider similar terms to avoid confusion.
Biography Vs Autobiography
In this context, a biography, like an autobiography, is equally a non-fiction, factual piece of writing that gives a written account of a person's life and experiences. However, unlike an autobiography, the author is not the main subject of the work. Simply put, a biography is the life history of an individual, written by someone else.
In order to give a proper account of the subject's life and experiences, the author usually resorts to verifiable research sources that clearly afford a proper chronological narrative. Such biographical resources include interviews with experts, family, or friends, letters, diaries, newspapers, reports, reference books, previous and old biographies, and many others. Resorting to the aforementioned resources gives insight into the subject's life and eludes the errors that may occur due to the inability or the unavailability of the subject of the biography to affirm or verify the account.
The essence of a biography is to give an account of another person's story in chronological order from childhood into adulthood and feature key events and details in their lives. Overall, it should be able to give the readers a deeper insight as to how the subject lived his life, his interaction with his environment, his views, and other indelible experiences.
Also Read: How To Make Your Essay Longer
Noteworthy, a biography can be created in other formats than writing. It can be in audiovisual format. Also, it can feature more than one person.
Biography Examples
- A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
- Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film The Imitation Game
- Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
- Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston
- Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert
What Is A Memoir
What is a memoir? Memoir originates from the French word "mémoire," which translates to "memory or reminiscence." A memoir is also an account of a person's life written by that person. The stories are usually garnered from their diary entries or from a close family member or friend with access to their personal diaries. Hence, they share close features with an autobiography on the basis that they are both personal accounts of a person's story. As earlier stated about what type of writing is most similar to an autobiography, the answer is memoir.
Simply put, a memoir is a collection of memories written by the person themselves. Often times, a memoir project covers stories from famous people and requires help to organize and write the story. As such, it may require a number of interviews to finally have the storyline properly organized.
However, unlike biography and autobiography, a memoir does not usually give prominence to research sources since they are often accounts that are pruned from the diary and tuned to make out a story. Also, the chronological feature that may prevail in an autobiography or a biography is not given the same relevance in a memoir.
Memoir Examples
A number of memoirs have been written in history. The best of the memoir examples are:
- I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
- The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
- The Puma Years by Laura Coleman
- Walden by Henry David Thoreau
What Type Of Writing Is Most Similar To An Autobiography? Discerning The Characteristics Of Autobiography, Biography and Memoir
.jpeg "The Characteristics Of Autobiography, Biography and Memoir")
At this stage, after considering the meanings and examples of autobiography, biography, and memoir, it is also quite essential to examine the characteristics of each format of memory work.
Autobiography Vs Biography Vs Memoir
Characteristics of Autobiography
Below are some of the elements that characterize autobiography as a distinct format of memory work. The characteristics of an autobiography include the following:
- Autobiography is based on real, factual events and experiences.
- It is written by the person.
- It employs literary elements that are similarly used in fictional works. This enables the proper character and plot development.
- The voice in an autobiography is personal.
- Autobiographies are also a reflection of broader themes, which may be historical, political, etc.
- It is written from a first-person point of view.
- The narrator of an autobiography makes use of personal pronouns.
- It is subjective and presents facts and events as they were experienced by the person.
- It offers access to personal thoughts and feelings.
- It is chronologically written.
- Lastly, it is usually written later in life.
Characteristics of Biography
Below are the distinctive characteristics of biography:
- Biography is based on real, factual events and experiences.
- The account of the person's story is written by another person.
- It is written from a third-person point of view.
- It is chronologically written.
- It is objective and presents information collected from the subject, their acquaintances, or from other sources.
- There is restricted access to the subject’s thoughts and feelings.
- Lastly, it can be written at any time.
Characteristics of the Memoir
Below are the distinctive characteristics of memoir:
- A memoir is a personal account of a person's specific time or life experience.
- The account of the person's story is written by the person.
- It is written to reflect on and explore the emotions of an experience.
- It is written in first-person narrative.
- It is not necessary to write it chronologically.
- It presents facts as they were experienced by the person.
- Lastly, it can be written at any time.
What Type Of Writing Is Most Similar To An Autobiography
Having considered the above, we shall be considering what type of writing is most similar to an autobiography.
The type of writing most similar to an autobiography is a memoir. This position is sustained by the following argument: how they are related and the slight differences.
Technically, the words 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are written accounts of a person's life that are written by the person themselves. However, while an autobiography is basically an account of a person's entire life, a memoir, on the other hand, is only about one part of a person's life. A memoir focuses on a specific life experience. It may be about a person's struggles in a career or their adventures.
In essence, an autobiography is a narrative or story about a person's life from birth or childhood to adulthood. As a result, it features lots of key experiences and events that depict the person's life experiences. Whereas a memoir is a narrative that only focuses on specific life experiences,.
Conclusion
The formats of memory works—autobiography, biography, and memoir—provide a unique narrative of a person's life and give readers insights. It can be inferred from the above that, despite their similarities, they are quite different from one another.
From the above, we were able to give the meanings of autobiography, biography, and memoir, their examples, characteristics in a Autobiography Vs biography Vs Memoir format, and lastly, what type of writing is most similar to an autobiography.
We hope that from this, you can clearly decipher what type of writing is most similar to an autobiography.
%20(15).jpeg)
.png)
%20(3).jpeg)
COMMENTS