Autobiography will come in various forms, often in varying degrees of factual information and different postures of pretence. Some of them just plainly give you the truth, although what you are likely to get quite often are versions of the truth – or a point of view. So that even though autobiography is known to be someone’s life story told by themselves, you really don’t always know what you are going to get.
A brief review of the types is not only interesting, but has some relevant bearing upon the account of a life that we are about to analyse. Some autobiographies take the form of a documentary – the facts are presented in good faith, events are written, described or narrated in plain prose. Nothing else is attempted, although with the best of intentions these will really be the author’s
