Reading Autobiography ─ A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives

"Reading Autobiography is the challenging introductory book the field has been waiting for. There's so much to like and admire about this book."

"Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson have produced a thoroughly engaging, thought provoking, well written, and scholarly text. Reading Autobiography is an excellent book that makes a major contribution to the field of autobiographical studies. The enthusiasm of Smith and Watson regarding all things autobiographical shines through in every chapter as does experience in the field and their depth of knowledge."

"Reading Autobiography is an essential tool in courses on life writing. Regardless of the specific focus or level of difficulty of an autobiography course, this book makes good on its claim as a `guidebook.'"

Reading Autobiography is an essential guide for students and scholars reading and interpreting autobiographical texts and methods across the humanities, social sciences, and visual and performing arts. Thoroughly updated, the second edition is the most complete assessment of life narrative in its myriad forms. 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 tool kit for working with this genre. 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 appendixes: a glossary covering dozens of distinct genres of life writing, proposals for group and classroom projects, and an extensive bibliography.

Sidonie Smith is Martha Guernsey Colby Collegiate Professor of English and women's studies at the University of Michigan.
Julia Watson is professor of comparative studies at Ohio State University.