Philippe Lejeune
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In this sense, Lejeune tried to establish a basic theory that allows scholars to better classify this popular genre beginning by providing a definition of autobiography: "[it is] the retrospective record in prose that a real person gives of his or her own being, emphasizing the personal life and in particular the 'story of life'." He also formulated the underlying concept of this narrative form: "In order to create an autobiography, the author enters into a pact or contract with the readers, promising to give a detailed account of his or her life, and of nothing but that life."
So the autobiography is characterized by the dual approach of introspection and a claim for truth. Nevertheless, he concedes that there are multiple factors (memory deficiencies, untruthfulness or excessive candor, the chosen narrative method etc.) that might constrain the wish to bring one's own life into a readable form.
Novelist and filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet, upon writing down his own life in ''Le Miroir qui revient'' (1985, English translation by Jo Levy: ''Ghosts in the Mirror'', 1988), opposed Lejeune's concept of the autobiographical pact, which sparked a lengthy controversy about the concept among French intellectuals. Provided by Wikipedia
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20by Cédric Vermeulen, Philippe Lejeune, Jonathan Lisein, Prosper Sawadogo, Philippe BouchéGet full text
Published 2013-01-01
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