Speaking from Memory: The Study of Autobiographical Discorse

Arguing that all human beings are incorrigibly autobiographical and that the most common mode of autobiography is oral and partial, this book maps out the diversity of autobiographical practices and seeks to introduce them to teachers and educators. Autobiography turns memory into discourse. This book explores autobiographical memory, arguing that memory is a social construct, while autobiography is essentially political. The book critically reviews the feminist argument that women's autobiographies - as opposed to the lengthy texts written in the west, mostly by men - speak their lives "from the margins". It ends with suggestions for student activities which would give the diversity of autobiography its rightful place in the curricululm.