Autobiography and Confession: Varieties of Litarary Form

FAIN: FS-10284-76

Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD 21218-2608)
Avrom Fleishman (Project Director: January 1976 to present)

To study English and American autobiography of the 19th and 20th centuries, designed to explore the varieties of esthetic media in which "confessional" writing has taken place. The seminar will treat autobiographical fiction, poetry, letters, journals, films and musical scores, as well as autobiography proper. The emphasis will be on the author's use of means to create an image of himself, a constructed object embodied in a text or other form, which represents an interpretation of his life, its meaning and its shape.