John-Raphael Straude defines autobiography as, “a dialogue of the self with itself in the present about the past for the sake of self-understanding” (Staude 249). Although autobiography may acquire many functions, its aid in understanding oneself is an important one. In particular, autobiography and narrative promote understanding of people’s lives, the world, and improve their sense of connectedness with the world around them.One of the many important purposes that autobiography serves is to help the authors get to know themselves, and to help them better understand their lives. An essential factor to gaining this understanding is self-reflection, which involves mentally isolating themselves from the world in which they live in order to observe, analyze, and interpret who they are and the significance of circumstances in their lives. Although there is evidence to suggest benefits of self-evaluation in the autobiographical process, there is much controversy as to whether or not looking inward is self-destructive. Many critics claim that autobiography in terms of self-reflection is narcissistic. According to Alexander Lowen, a narcissist is “a person who is preoccupied with him- or herself to the exclusion of everyone else” (Lowen 6). In autobiography, some say that self-reflection, in the act of singling oneself out as unique from others, causes the author to become diverted from the influences of society’s values and norms. They claim that this in turn can cause an unrealistic sense of self, and because one is finding meaning and individualism in his/her experience, he/she finds oneself even deeper in isolation (Felski 89). In other words, because the writer is isolating him/herself from society by concentrating on the self as…
…Raymond D. Solitude and the Neoclassics. 4th ed. Vol. 21. The Johns HopkinsUP, 1954.Lowen, Alexander. Narcissism: Denial of the True Self. New York: Macmillan Pub. Co.,Collier Macmillan, 1983.Mascuch, Michael. Origins of the Individualist Self: Autobiography and Self-Identity in England, 1591-1791. Stanford, California: Stanford UP, 1996.Spender, Stephen. “Confessions and Autobiography.” Autobiography: Essays Theoreticaland Critical. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP, 1980. 115-22.Staude, John-Rafael. “Autobiography as a Spiritual Practice.” Journal of GerontologicalSocial Work 45.3 (2005): 249-69.Vaughn, Marsha, and Karen Swanson. “”Any Life Can Be Fascinating”: Using SpiritualAutobiography As an Adjunct to Therapy.” The Therapist’s Notebook for Integrating Spirituality in Couseling. Binghamton, NY: The Howarth, Inc., 2006. 211-18.
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