Autobiographical narrative

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“The discourse genre of autobiographical narrative is the central place where personal experiences and their evaluations come to be interwoven with the threads of a life history” (Brockmeier, 2000, p. 53)

There are four characteristics of the autobiographical narrative. First, there is a “time-evolving plot,” in which the autobiographical process births its own narrative time which is separate from chronological time (Brockmeier, 2000, p. 59). This time creation results from the omittance of less significant life events to make narrative space for the more significant ones. Second, the autobiographical events must revolve around one protagonist—all of their physical and mental actions. By the end of the autobiographical narrative, this “protagonist and the narrator eventually fuse and become one person with a shared consciousness” (p. 59). This fusion means that the past must not only lead up to the present and future, but must also be shaped by the present and future such that the protagonist fits into the mold of the narrator. In reflecting on these stories, the narration must then “[evaluate] this self in the light of moral assumptions and ethical convictions,” although “the evaluation is itself subject to temporal change” (p. 60). With changes in moral and ethical views, the autobiographical narrative becomes subjective to change, further widening the gap between autobiographical and chronological narratives. Reflection and evaluation of this time-evolving plot ultimately births the “retrospective teleology of autobiographical narrative. A life story starts in the here and now and reconstructs the past as if it were teleologically directed towards this specific present” (p. 60). The present shifts the weights and meanings of each autobiographical event in order to explain why the individual is where they are now.

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ENGL 287 Application

The characteristics of the autobiographical narrative can be discussed in current readings. For example, in “The Garden of Forking Paths,” Yu Tsun uses a teleological approach when justifying his murder of Stephen Albert. He advises readers that “whosoever would undertake some atrocious enterprise should act as if it were already accomplished, should impose upon himself a future as irrevocable as the past” (Luis Borges, 1941, p. 3). The success of his approach supports his propagation; the narrative would be different otherwise. Another example is “The Artist,” in which there are multiple evaluations, starting with “I often think Play was my best work,” then “O Bee I think you are my best work” (Koch, 1962, p. 104, 106). The autobiographical memories are then reworked to shift the valuations of each piece.