Reading Romantic Autobiography

Abstract

Claims the flourishing of autobiographical writing in its modern form has often been linked with Romanticism. Argues, however, that close examination of connections between a genre and its literary environment suggests the relation between them is never simplistic. Notes that late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century accounts of autobiography’s place in the world of letters indicate that Romantic autobiography is not concerned with aligning specific texts with Romantic ideologies of selfpresence and individualism; rather, the term describes a tension in the literary field between the idea of the private individual and the processes of publication and circulation. Claims Rousseau’s Confessions are a prominent site for negotiating these tensions. Concludes that understanding Romantic Autobiography is ultimately a matter of considering how texts appear and circulate in the world of readers, writers, and commentators.