Biography and Autobiography

Biography and Autobiography

Biography and Autobiography are two forms of literature that are often confused to be the same due to the similarity in their meaning. Both are accounts of an individual’s life, but the difference exists in the authorship. The main difference between autobiography and biography is that the autobiography is a life story of a person written by that person himself while biography is a life story of a person written by another person.

Difference between Biography and Autobiography

The two traditional forms of literature that describe the character sketch and course of the life of a person are biography and autobiography. Biography is the life history of an individual, written by someone else, whereas the autobiography is an expression of a person’s life, written by self.

Both of these two presents the view of, what happened in the past where the author lived. These are non-fiction books, written in chronological order, tells a story about the person who made a significant contribution in a specific field. Many think that the two writing forms are one and the same thing, but there are noticeable difference between the two, that are presented in the given article.

Definition of Biography

The term “Biography” is originated from the two Medieval Greek terms “bios” and “graphia” meaning life and writing respectively. The author of a biography is known as a biographer. A biography also referred as ‘bio’ is a detailed account of a person’s life written or produced by another person. It gives an elaborate information regarding the birthplace, educational background, work, relationships and demise of the person concerned. It presents the subject’s intimate details about life, focusing on the highs and lows and analysing their whole personality.

A biographer must do a thorough study of his subject’s life so that he can present an accurate receipt of the events in the subject’s life. In most cases, biographies are written after the death of the person and are therefore more complete in recounting the events in his life.

The thing about biography everyone needs to know is that the close friend, family member or any relative writing the biography makes it quite interesting as the writer together remains present with them in the first-hand experiences. Although when a biography is written by collecting information through second means or written by some unknown it can’t cover many of the diverse topics of that celebrity’s life.

A biography is usually in the written form but can also be made in other forms of a music composition or literature to film interpretation.

It is the recreation of the life of an individual composed of words by another person. The author collects every single detail about the subject and presents those facts in the biography, which are relevant and interesting, to engross the readers in the story.

Definition of Autobiography

The term “Autobiography” was first used by William Taylor in 1797. An autobiographer describes various events, memories of his childhood, youth, and adulthood. However, an autobiography does not contain the complete events of the author’s life.

An autobiography is the life sketch of a person written by that person himself or herself. The word auto means ‘self.’ Therefore, autobiography contains all the elements of a biography but composed or narrated by the author himself. He/She may write on their own or may hire ghostwriters to write for them.

An autobiography presents the narrator’s character sketch, the place where he is born and brought up, his education, work, life experiences, challenges, and achievements. This may include events and stories of his childhood, teenage, and adulthood.

In the recent past, autobiographies have increasingly become popular. Many celebrities, politicians, as well as ordinary people, are becoming more interested in writing their autobiographies. Sometimes autobiographies are written with the help of ghostwriters and collaborators.

Some famous autobiographies include “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank, “Long Walk to Freedom” by Nelson Mandela, “An Autobiography” by Jawaharlal Nehru, and the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” by Frederick Douglass.

Key Differences Between Biography and Autobiography

The difference between biography and autobiography are discussed in detail in the following points:

Biography is a detailed account of a person’s life written by someone else, while an autobiography is written by the subject themselves.

Biography can be written with (authorised) or without permission (unauthorised) from the person/heir’s concerned. Therefore, there are chances of factual mistakes in the information. On the other hand, autobiographies are self-written and therefore doesn’t require any authorization.

Biographies contain information that is collected over a period of time from different sources and thus, it projects a different outlook to the readers. On the other hand, autobiographies are written by the subject themselves, therefore, the writer presents the facts and his thinking in his own way, thus providing an overall narrow and biased perspective to the readers.

In an Autobiography, the author uses the first narrative like I, me, we, he, she, etc. This, in turn, makes an intimate connection between the author and the reader since the reader experience various aspects as if he/she is in that time period. As opposed a biography is from a third person’s view and is much less intimate.

The purpose of writing a biography is to introduce and inform the readers about the person and his life whereas an autobiography is written in order to express, the life experiences and achievements of the narrator.

Conclusion

There are several autobiographies which are worth mentioning like ‘The Story of My Life’ by Helen Keller, ‘An Autobiography’ by Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ by Anne Frank, ‘Memoirs of the Second World War’ by Winston Churchill, ‘Wings of Fire’ by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and much more.

Examples of some famous biographies are- Tolstoy: A Russian Life by Rosamund Bartlett, His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis, Einstein: The Life and Times by Ronald William Clark, Biography of Walt Disney: The Inspirational Life Story of Walt Disney – The Man Behind “Disneyland” by Steve Walters, Princess Diana- A Biography Of The Princess Of Wales by Drew L. Crichton.