Autobiographies
"Any life story, written or oral, more or less dramatically, is in one sense a personal mythology, a self-justification", write Raphael Samuels & Paul Thompson. "Any autobiographical narrative doubles as a morality; and this can be discerned not only in its shaping, but in the mythical elements which may be juxtaposed with unique personal memory". In short, the mythical elements in memory need to be seen both as evidence of the past and as a continuing historical force in the present.In England from the late nineteenth century onwards successful actors were particularly prone to record their lives for an admiring public. Their autobiographies often follow conventional narrative patterns and incorporate the mythologysing and self-justification to which Samuels and Thompson refer. Furthermore, their autobiographies not only function as an exercise in myth-making, but also as the performance in print of an already established public persona. Autobiography allows rge representation of a self already determined and constructed within a professional milieu circumscribed by the performative. The extent to which an actor or actress achieves control or autonomy over self-construction and self-representation through the act of writi
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Marshall Postlewait, Jerome Bruner, Paul Thompson, Tomas Postlewait, Samuels Thompson, Story Life, Ada Reeve, Yarney Bull, Samuels' Thompson's, Tell Story, act writing, autobiographical memories, late nineteenth century, possibilities self-constitution, view life, mythical elements, act autobiography, autobiographical memory, feature autobiographical, feature autobiographical memories, nineteenth century, late nineteenth,
Approximate Word count = 1129
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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