Autobiography was first used in English by William Taylor who spoke French and Dutch at home and later travelled to the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany where he improved his languages and learnt about how business was conducted. He became famous for his translations into English of Lessing and Goethe. He was a prolific literary critic and in this function comments about “diaries and self-biography. We are doubtful whether the latter word be legitimate … yet autobiography would have seemed pedantic”. He obviously discussed matters with his friend Robert Southey (who used the word voodoo in English for the first time) who just a few years later uses the word autobiography as a genre quite naturally in one of the journals they both contributed to.
The word is defined as a person’s account of himself. Famous autobiographies include the Confessions of Augustine or Rousseau, those of Jefferson or Franklin or even those of Casanova. But one does not wait to have experienced a lifetime to start writing. Rubia Alia, a child star in Slumdog Millionaire is to have her autobiography released soon. She is now nine.
Did you like the article? Then please like and share it on Facebook, tweet it on Twitter or add it in Google+.
