Autobiographical Genres Memoir Autobiography Biography Personal Narrative Autobiography

Autobiographical Genres Memoir Autobiography Biography Personal Narrative

Autobiography Ø Who you are in life – Based on facts and research! Ø What life means to you – Your feelings, both past and present Ø What your outlook on the future is – Usually based on one event Ø Written by same person that it is about

Biography Ø History of a lifetime – Must cover entire life Ø Most important facts and events of someone’s life Ø Contains anecdotes, memories, trips and cherished moments Ø Is about another person

Personal Narrative Ø Focus is on a particular event in a person/writer’s life Ø 1 st person Ø Uses diction and sensory details to express emotions that place the reader in the personal experience

Memoir Autobiographical writing Ø Captures certain highlights or meaningful moments in one’s past Ø Contemplation of the meaning of that event at the time of the writing of the memoir Ø Much more emotional and connects the writer to someone or something that had and impact on their life Ø

Characteristics of the Memoir Form Focus on a brief period of time or series of related events Ø Narrative structure (storytelling elements like setting, plot, imagery, characterization, foreshadowing/flashback, and irony and symbolism) Ø Retrospective Ø Fictional quality Ø Higher emotional level/more personal reconstruction of the events and their impact Ø

Memoirs – Another perspective Explores an event or series of related events that remain lodged in memory Ø Describes the events and then shows, either directly or indirectly why they are significant Ø WHY do you STILL remember them? Ø Focused in time (not long) Ø Focuses on problem/conflict and its resolution and why the resolution is significant in your life Ø

Why we read memoirs… BECAUSE GOOD READERS… Ø Make connections Ø Question Ø Visualize Ø Infer Ø Synthesize Ø …and these things expose essential truths and help us evaluate our own lives and the world around us! Ø

Good Readers Ø Make connections to books or works they read by: 1. Connect books they read by connecting it to another book (text-to-text) 2. Connect to something in their own life (text to self)