American Autobiography: A Collection of Critical Essays

200 Pages·1982·31.197 MB·English

by  Albert E. Stone (editor)

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REFERENCE
\J
ALLENCOUNTY^PUBLICLIBRARY

TWENTIETH CENTURY VIEWS
The aim of this series is to present the best in con-
temporary critical opinion on major authors, pro-
viding a twentieth century perspective on their
changingstatus in an eraofprofound revaluation.
Maynard Mack, SeriesEditor
Yale University

THE AMERICAN
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
A COLLECTION OF CRITICAL ESSAYS
Edited by
Albert E. Stone
Prentice-Hall, Inc. aspectrum book EngIewood Cliffs, N.J.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Mainentryundertitle:
TheAmericanautobiography.
(Twentiethcenturyviews) (ASpectrumBook)
Bibliography p.
criticism—1.AAdmderersisceasn,lesistaeyrsa,tulrecet—urHeiss.tory'and
2. Autobiography—Addresses,essays,lectures.
I. Stone.AibertE. II. Series.
PS169A 810-.9351 81-10530
AACR2
ISBN 0-13-0S4L3A-7
ISBN 0-13-DEMLED-H -CPBK.}
MIEN COUNTY PU3UC LIBRARY
PORT WAYNE, INDIANA
Editorial/productionsupervisionbyAlbertaBodd^
Cover illustration byVivian Berger
Manufacturingbuyer: BarbaraA. Frick
©1981 by Prentice-Hall. Inc.. Englewood Cliffs. New Jersey. A SPECTRUM BOOK. All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means
without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.
987654321
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Contents
21 14
Introduction: American Autobiographies
as Individual Stories and Cultural Narratives
byAlbertE. Stone 1
The Proper Study: Autobiographies in American Studies
byRobertE. Sayre 11
The Selfas History: Reflections on Autobiography
byAlfredKazin 31
Stages of Self: Notes on Autobiography
and the Life Cycle
by PatriciaMeyerSpacks 44
Unsettling the Colonel's Hash:
"Fact" in Autobiography
by BarrelMansell 61
Walden and the Temporal Mode
ofAutobiographical Narrative
byJanet Varner Gunn 80
American Autobiography and Ideology
by ThomasEDoherty 95
To Be Black and Blue:
The Blues Genre in Black American Autobiography
byElizabeth Schultz 109
Inventing theJew: Notes onJewish Autobiography
byAlvin H. Rosenfeld 133
The Personal Life Deeply Lived
byAnaisNin 157
A Selective Bibliography ofAmericanAutobiography 166
Notes on the Editorand Contributors 176
Index 178
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011
http://www.archive.org/details/americanautobiogOOston