Smith watson reading autobiography

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Video Audio icon An illustration of an audio speaker. Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. Request an Exam Copy. Bringing decades of wisdom as leaders in this multidisciplinary field, Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson have wonderfully updated this latest edition, with attention to multimedia and digital life narrative, nobody memoir, autographics, ecocriticism, sex and gender narrative, dementia recordings, and much more.

Those with time will enjoy theoretical debates on embodiment, epistemology, experience, and identity; seekers in a hurry have mini-essays for quick marveling at autobiography now. This book is what theorists, critics, teachers, and students need now. While instructors will find this book an invaluable primer for both graduate and upper-level undergraduate students, it is also indispensable for scholars seeking a thorough yet succinct account of this unusually broad field.

The boom in autobiographical narratives continues apace. It now encompasses a global spectrum of texts and practices in such media as graphic memoir, auto-photography, performance and plastic arts, film and video, and online platforms. It lays out a sophisticated, theoretical approach to life writing and the components of autobiographical acts, including memory, experience, identity, embodiment, space, and agency.

Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson explore these components, review the history of life writing and the foundations of autobiographical subjectivity, and provide a toolkit for working with twenty-three key concepts. Their survey of innovative forms of life writing, such as autographics and installation self-portraiture, charts recent shifts in autobiographical practice.

Especially useful for courses are the appendices: a glossary covering dozens of distinct genres of life writing, proposals for group and classroom projects, and an extensive bibliography. Life Narrative in Historical Perspective, 5. In the Wake of the Memoir Boom, 6. Genres of Life Narrative, Appendix B. Group and Classroom Projects, Appendix C. Skip to content Home Reading Autobiography.

Julia Watson is professor of comparative studies at Ohio State University.