Let’s Get Personal

Biographies and Autobiographies

The best biographies leave their readers with a sense of having all but entered into a second life and of having come to know another human being in some ways bett er than he knew himself.” ~ Mary Cable

Test your knowledge.Match the biography term with the definition.

Biographies

1. BiographyA A biography revealed mostly or entirely through

photographs.

2 . Autobiography

B How one remembers one’s own life or experience, as opposed to an account that reflects facts that have been researched or verified.

3. Personal Narrative

C An account of the life of 2 or more persons. They have a commonality that binds them together.

4. Memoir

D A regularly kept record of the writer’s activities, reflections and feelings, written primarily for the writer’s use alone.

5. Collective BiographyE Uses poetry to tell a person’s story.

6. Diary or JournalF An account of a person’s life written by another person.

7. PhotobiographyG An account of one’s own life.

8. Biography in VerseH A true story about a personal memory or event.

Biography

A biography is the true account of a person’s life, written by another person.

Biography

CHARACTERISTIC

• 3rd person point of view.

CHARACTERISTIC

•Explains how events, people and experiences shaped the person’s life.

CHARACTERISTIC

•Includes quotations from people who knew him or her.

CHARACTERISTIC

• Author draws his or her information from a variety of reliable sources: diaries, letters, photographs, documents, reference books.

Collective Biography

An account of the life of 2 or more persons. They have a commonality that binds them together. For example, they may be related or married or they may have a common profession, cause or goal.

Wynonna and Naomi Judd by Skip Press

Photobiography

A biography revealed mostly or entirely through photographs.

Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein by Marfe Ferguson Delano

Biography in VerseUses poetry to tell a person’s story.

The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Franciso Manzana by Margarita Engle A portrait in poems of Juan Francisco Manzano, the poet who was born a slave in Cuba in 1797.

Diego, Bigger Than Life by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, Illustrated by David Diaz Though not written by Rivera, the author uses first person voice, with the verses from Rivera’s perspective. The epilogue changes voice and the author adds biographical notes and a chronology.

Django: World’s Greatest Jazz Guitarist by Bonnie Christensen An illustrated, rhythmic account of the life of legendary jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

“If you're doing a biography, you try to stay as accurate as possible to reality. But you really don't know what was going on in the person's mind. You just know what was going on in the minds of people around him.”

~ Clint Eastwood

Autobiography

“This is the best biography by me

I have ever read.” ~ Lawrence Welk

An account of one’s own life.

Autobiography

CHARACTERISTIC

•1st person point of view

CHARACTERISTIC

•Describes the subject’s thoughts, feelings and opinions about his or her life.

CHARACTERISTIC

•Based primarily on details that come form the subject’s own memory.

Memoirs

• A memoir is a form of nonfiction in which a person tells about significant events in his or her life.

• Unlike an autobiography, which generally covers a person’s entire life, a memoir may cover just one time period or experience.

Bad Boy: A Memoir by Walter Dean Myers. Author Walter Dean Myers describes his childhood in Harlem in the 1940s and 1950s, discussing his loving stepmother, his problems in school, his reasons for leaving home, and his beginnings as a writer.

Memoir

CHARACTERISTIC

•1st person point of view

CHARACTERISTIC

•Describes the subjects experiences and observations about important people and events

CHARACTERISTIC

•Often includes the historical context of the subject – information about society and culture in that time period.

False Memoirs

• Literary Forgeries

“Tell the truth, or someone will tell it for you.” Stephanie Klein

Personal Narrative

Personal NarrativeA personal narrative is an autobiographical essay that reflects the writer’s experiences, feelings, and personality. It usually deals with a single subject and offers a snapshot of a moment in a writer’s life.

“One good anecdote is worth a volume of biography.”William Ellery Channing

Personal narratives often appear in magazines and newspapers.

Personal Narrative

CHARACTERISTIC

•Autobiographical essay•1st person point of view

CHARACTERISTIC

•Tells a story about real people and events

CHARACTERISTIC

•A short work of nonfiction that usually deals with a single subject

Diary or Journal

• A form of autobiographical writing.

• A regularly kept record of the diarist’s activities and reflections.

• Written primarily for the writer’s use alone, the diary has a frankness that is unlike writing done for publication.

Personal StoriesThe Writer is the Subject

•Autobiography•Memoir•Personal Narrative•Diary or Journal

Told by Someone OTHER than the

Subject•Biography•Collective Biography•Photobiography•Biography in Verse

Test your knowledge.Match the biography term with the definition.

Biographies

1. BiographyF An account of a person’s life written by another person.

2 . AutobiographyG An account of one’s own life.

3. Personal NarrativeH A true story about a personal memory or event.

4. Memoir

B How one remembers one’s own life or experience, as opposed to an account that reflects facts that have been researched or verified.

5. Collective Biography

C An account of the life of 2 or more persons. They have a commonality that binds them together.

6. Diary or JournalD A regularly kept record of the writer’s activities, reflections

and feelings, written primarily for the writer’s use alone.

7. PhotobiographyA A biography revealed mostly or entirely through photographs.

8. Biography in VerseE Uses poetry to tell a person’s story.

Works CitedAllen, Janet. Holt McDougal Literature: Texas Grade 6. [Evanston, Ill.]: Holt

McDougal, a Division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. Print."Biography Quotes." BrainyQuote. BookRags Media Network, n.d. Web. 23

Jan. 2013.

Images20 of the All-time Best Twitter Bios. Digital image. Schaefer Marketing

Solutions We Help Businesses Grow. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2013.Burton, Adam. Rocky Coastline. Digital image. Adam Burton Photography.

N.p., 2013. Web. 23 Jan. 2013.Clint Eastwood in “Trouble with the Curve”. Digital image. News GameFob

Network RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2013.