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9780415789189

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"""Writing Life Writing: Narrative, History, Autobiography shows how autobiographical narrative works as an essential aspect of humanity. In fresh, exciting ways, it melds literature with psychology, neurobiology, ethics and cultural anthropology, to argue that telling stories about ourselves is psychically and even biologically motivated. Eakin guides us through the fact-fiction tease of the form, its relevance to historians and its future in an age of social media. Eakin’s own experiment with writing autobiographically, which closes this beautifully written collection, will intrigue those who wonder what it is to find a vocation in writing about life writing, distilling with it a life time of thinking about this ever-interesting form and practice."" -- Margaretta Jolly, Professor of Cultural Studies, University of Sussex ""What a pleasure--and convenience--to have these trenchant and timely essays of the last two decades gathered in one accessible volume! John Eakin is a distinguished American critic of autobiography studies with international reach and resonance, as well as an elegant, witty, and insightful writer. His work has long blazed a trail in theorizing the relationship of the autobiographical to diverse fields: the narrative identity system, where his probing interventions inform debates on it as cultural practice, cognitive process, and embodied representation; the history of autobiography as an evolving mode of representing subjectivity in dialogue with, but distinct from, related literary genres; and the stakes of life writing in emergent digital media and as a model of quantum cosmology. In two additional personal essays on his biological and intellectual fathers, Eakin traces how a lifelong engagement with the discipline has motivated and shaped his own processes of memory and reflection. These essays reward rereading and will enrich current debates."" -- Julia Watson, Professor Emerita of Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University, Co-author with Sidonie Smith of Reading Autobiography: A Guide to Interpreting Life Narrative and Life Writing in the Long Run: A Smith & Watson Autobiography Studies Reader ""Written with his characteristic lucidity, this selection of key pieces is a reminder, if we needed one, of why Eakin has been so indispensable to the study of life writing for so long: seeing autobiography as not only a textual product but a fundamental human activity, Eakin can appreciate it all its forms and dimensions. Understanding self-narrative as pre-textual, rooted in somatic homeostasis, Eakin is well equipped to surf the waves of change in the way humans produce it in post-print media. Tracing his critical trajectory, this book reveals a mind probing beyond the traditional boundaries of disciplines to illuminate his subject in new and fruitful ways."" -- G Thomas Couser, Professor of English Emeritus, Hofstra University ""For those interested in exploring the connection between somatic manifestations and autobiographical narratives, or the importance of self-narration to self and personal or narrative identity, then reading more of Paul John Eakin’s work is essential."" -- Sergio da Silva Barcellos, Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly ""Henderson’s how-to text is a springboard for many kinds of discussions and projects, a useful starting point for researchers and students, effectively and wisely packaged but covering a wide array of topics that all fit in that elusive but intriguing category of the “diary.”"" - Kathryn Carter, Wilfrid Laurier University"

'This may not be a guide on how to write one's diary - each person does as he or she pleases - but it is a marvelous guide on how to read other's diaries! Desiree Henderson explores this immense continent of diary writing, which is as well traveled as it is secret. She dispels prejudices, misunderstandings, and ignorance. With a lucid and attentive eye, she discerns, explains, and classifies. This work is at once an ethnographic analysis of a practice (to keep a diary is above all a way of living) and the poetics of what has become a literary genre. Based on broad knowledge of the subject, the argument is remarkably clear. Henderson's analysis does not lead to conclusions, but rather opens up a whole array of questions. Let us pick up the challenge and respond.' Philippe Lejeune 'Diaries are among the most common and least understood genres of writing in the world. How can we read what was not written with us in mind? Why keep diaries at all? Desiree Henderson's concise and well-researched introduction to the study of diaries lets us in on their secrets, and asks us to treat diaries, and their writers, with the respect and care they truly deserve.' Julie Rak, University of Alberta 'Not since Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson's Reading Autobiography has a book so articulately and intelligently examined the interpretive strategies and stances needed for reading the life writing of others. Desiree Henderson's captivating and illuminating study, How to Read a Diary, is for both the student new to diary scholarship as well as the seasoned reader. Under her keen and caring eye, the diary is afforded a complexity, rigor, and attentiveness that is all too often reserved for more literary genres. She challenges readers of diaries to see both the texts-whether manuscript, digital, or published-and the authors writing them as complex and multifaceted subjects that emerge out of a matrix of cultural, historical, and rhetorical forces. How to Read a Diary constitutes essential reading for anyone interested in how writers inscribe themselves on the page, literally or digitally. Students and scholars conducting archival research, working with primary materials, or invested in questions of self-representation will also find Henderson's deep and vast exploration of the genre thought provoking and smart. In How to Read a Diary, Henderson has given the field of life writing an invaluable tool, a wise companion, and a trove of resources. A touchstone.' Jennifer Sinor, Utah State University

'This may not be a guide on how to write one's diary - each person does as he or she pleases - but it is a marvelous guide on how to read other's diaries! Desiree Henderson explores this immense continent of diary writing, which is as well traveled as it is secret. She dispels prejudices, misunderstandings, and ignorance. With a lucid and attentive eye, she discerns, explains, and classifies. This work is at once an ethnographic analysis of a practice (to keep a diary is above all a way of living) and the poetics of what has become a literary genre. Based on broad knowledge of the subject, the argument is remarkably clear. Henderson's analysis does not lead to conclusions, but rather opens up a whole array of questions. Let us pick up the challenge and respond.' Philippe Lejeune 'Diaries are among the most common and least understood genres of writing in the world. How can we read what was not written with us in mind? Why keep diaries at all? Desiree Henderson's concise and well-researched introduction to the study of diaries lets us in on their secrets, and asks us to treat diaries, and their writers, with the respect and care they truly deserve.' Julie Rak, University of Alberta 'Not since Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson's Reading Autobiography has a book so articulately and intelligently examined the interpretive strategies and stances needed for reading the life writing of others. Desiree Henderson's captivating and illuminating study, How to Read a Diary, is for both the student new to diary scholarship as well as the seasoned reader. Under her keen and caring eye, the diary is afforded a complexity, rigor, and attentiveness that is all too often reserved for more literary genres. She challenges readers of diaries to see both the texts-whether manuscript, digital, or published-and the authors writing them as complex and multifaceted subjects that emerge out of a matrix of cultural, historical, and rhetorical forces. How to Read a Diary constitutes essential reading for anyone interested in how writers inscribe themselves on the page, literally or digitally. Students and scholars conducting archival research, working with primary materials, or invested in questions of self-representation will also find Henderson's deep and vast exploration of the genre thought provoking and smart. In How to Read a Diary, Henderson has given the field of life writing an invaluable tool, a wise companion, and a trove of resources. A touchstone.' Jennifer Sinor, Utah State University

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Desirée Henderson is Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas Arlington, USA.

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