Early Modern autobiography between history and literature

Abstract

This article examines some of the ways in which diverse disciplinary perspectives within the humanities have shaped recent interpretations of early modern autobiography. It focuses in particular on how historians and literary scholars vary in their approaches to the study of autobiographical writing. Four differences are identified as especially important: the definition of autobiography, emphasis on authorial identity and context as keys to understanding texts, judgments regarding literary quality as a condition for research, and degree of attachment to a Burckhardtian framework which sees autobiography as an especially visible expression of modern individualism. It then closes by urging a bit of caution in regard to future interdisciplinary work on this intriguing subject