Biographies how to write

Why write autobiography: the look of a psychologist why write an autobiography: a psychologist's view photo: istock skill to create a full -fledged picture of all events from his life many centuries ago. The personal story of each person is unique in his own way, which makes the genre of autobiography especially significant in literary art. What makes people talk about their lives and how to write an autobiography affects the formation of identity, said Oksana Orlova’s psychologist and cultural scientist during the cultural and psychological lecture “Autobiography as a meeting of the author and hero” at the Center for Cultures of the Higher School of Economics.

The development of autobiography as a genre “My interest in autobiographs appeared, of course, from personal practice,” admits Oksana Orlova. As the psychologist says, on the one hand, the person himself was created from the events of his life, some experiences. On the other hand, he can carefully select certain facts of his biography when he talks about himself. That is, he leaves some moments behind brackets, and some, on the contrary, may not hide.

The development of the autobiography genre began with antiquity. Then two of her species appeared: Platonic and rhetorical. In the Platonic version of autobiography, the author tries to explain his feelings, experiences and actions through philosophical concepts. Such a story about yourself is often filled with issues of spirituality and morality. The rhetorical appearance, on the contrary, has a more pragmatic description: the author tries to appear before the reader in the best light, to demonstrate the positive aspects of his life.

In such an autobiography there are many rhetorical techniques to create an emotional response from the reader. Photo: Istock to the era of the Middle Ages, according to Oksana Orlova, a person forms a certain intimate world, and a “private person” arises. By this period of time, confidence in an autobiography appears, to a story about himself, ”says Oksana Orlova. Autobiography as a self-expression in the second half of the twentieth century appears the concept of “ego-document”.

These are various sources in the first person: diaries, letters, notebooks, memoirs. The very emergence of such a concept is associated with the need to personalize some historical references, to tie their authorship to a specific person. By the age of years in many countries, interest in microhistory is growing: people are trying to raise archives to study the history of their family and kind.

As a result, in the 20th century, people have many reasons for writing an autobiography. No contents, no contents, no contents “The moment of integration is very important for me as a psychologist. When I look at my life entirely, at various points, I understand how I developed and who I became, ”Oksana Orlova shares. Fears of the text according to the psychologist, along with the desire to write an autobiography may appear fears.

There is no contents, there is no contents of the photo: Istock “These fears must be released, because the memory, in fact, is phenomenal, and the past events can have a variety of ways in a person in his mind,” says Oksana Orlova. When we write autobiography, we have an intersubjective connection with society. It is very important for a person to feel his own among strangers and significant among his own.

According to the psychologist, writing an autobiography is an invaluable experience that will help to build your past and analyze the present thus. Date of publication: