Autobiography and Autobiographical Work: Comparison and Analysis
Abstract
The study of autobiography as a literary genre has long held significance in both world and Uzbek literary scholarship due to its dual function as an artistic and documentary form. In literary tradition, autobiography serves as a self-narrative in which the author not only records personal experiences but also interprets them through the lens of reflection, imagination, and moral evaluation. Historically, autobiography evolved from religious confessions and philosophical reflections into an independent genre that unites factual precision with artistic creativity. Despite extensive global research on the autobiographical genre, the distinction between autobiography as a literary form and as a documentary record has not been sufficiently analyzed in the context of Uzbek literature. This study aims to explore the theoretical essence, historical development, and artistic functions of autobiography, clarifying its boundaries with biography and works of autobiographical character. The analysis reveals that autobiography transforms factual life events into aesthetic and philosophical narratives, serving as a medium through which the author’s inner world and external reality converge. It reflects moral growth, self-analysis, and the author’s creative individuality, linking personal memory with cultural and historical consciousness. The study establishes autobiography as an autonomous literary genre grounded in realism, psychological introspection, and self-awareness, rather than mere documentary narration. The findings contribute to literary theory by demonstrating that autobiographical and semi-autobiographical works expand realism, enrich character psychology, and reinforce personal experience as a foundation of artistic creativity and humanistic expression.
References
V. M. Markovich, «Author and Hero in the Novels of Lermontov and Pasternak», в Author and Text: Collected Articles, St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg University Press, 1996, сс. 56–74.
G. Romanova, «Autobiographical Genres», Literary Studies, т. 6, вып. 6, сс. 78–85, 2003.
G. Romanova, «Autobiography», в Literary Encyclopedia of Terms and Concepts, A. N. Nikolyukin, Ред., Moscow: Intelvak, 2001.
YouTube Educational Platform, «Autobiography as a Literary Genre: Lecture Video». 2024 г.
P. Lejeune, Autobiography in France. Moscow: Moscow University Press, 1998.
L. Marcus, Autobiography: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
J. Olney, Autobiography: Essays Theoretical and Critical. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980.
L. Anderson, Autobiography: The New Critical Idiom. London: Routledge, 2001. doi: 10.4324/9780203398278.
G. Gusdorf, Conditions and Limits of Autobiography. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980. doi: 10.2307/2924393.
D. Quronov, Z. Mamajonov, и M. Sheraliyeva, Dictionary of Literary Studies. Tashkent: Akademnashr, 2013.
M. Bakhtin, Forms of Time and Chronotope in the Novel. Tashkent: Akademnashr, 2015.
M. Freeman, «Life “On Holiday”? In Defense of Autobiography», Qualitative Inquiry, т. 21, вып. 1, сс. 47–55, 2015, doi: 10.1177/1077800414542708.
P. J. Eakin, «Living Autobiographically: How We Create Identity in Narrative», Biography Journal, т. 22, вып. 3, сс. 231–247, 1999, doi: 10.1353/bio.1999.0012.
S. Smith и J. Watson, Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001.
P. Lejeune, «The Autobiographical Pact: A Theoretical Framework for Life Writing», New Literary History, т. 41, вып. 3, сс. 577–590, 2010, doi: 10.1353/nlh.2010.0022.
