Great Autobiographies?

[ForrestJG]

I prefer autobiographies instead of biographies; I just feel you can get more into it in the authors own words, no matter how much lies are in there :D
I've stumbled across Rousseau's Confessions, Chaplin's autobiography, Kafka's Diaries, and Night by Elie Wiesel, which sounds tragic. I'm not sure yet about all of these but can you recommend some good ones you've read? I've heard good things about Benjamin Franklin's autobiography.

[Charles Darnay]

I have also heard good think about Benjamin Franklin's autobiography.

"Night" is absolutely incredible. Similarly, "Man's Search for Meaning" (Victor Frankle) is a great autobiography/psychological/philosophic account of his experience during the Holocaust.

[Climacus]

Well-written autobiographies are a real treat, though I've not read all that many. Some of my favourites are:


C.S. Lewis' Surprised by Joy Sviatoslav Richter's Notebooks and Conversations Augustine's Confessions

[Ragnar Freund]

gone.

[Fafnir]

I'm currently reading Thomas de Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. I've not yet finished The Pains of Opium but his descriptions of opium dreams are supposed to be some of his best writing.

It's fascinating to think that, since little research was done into the effects of drugs, this work was once considered to be an authority.

[Emil Miller]

I have a number of biographies, which I prefer to autobiographies, not because of the lies they might contain but the sins of omission.
The two autobiographies I have are 'A Moveable Feast' by Hemingway and The Summing Up by Somerset Maugham. The first was edited by Hemingway's widow and published posthumously and the second was a philosophical and aesthetic recollection of Maugham's work and life. They both make interesting reading but, in the case of Maugham, nothing of his pathological sex life is mentioned. The copy I have is a German translation entitled 'Die Halbe Wahrheit', which translates as 'The Half truth.'

[Inderjit Sanghe]

Speak, Memory- Nabokov. The Perodic Table-Primo Levi

[Buh4Bee]

I enjoyed Rousseau's Confessions, but didn't finish it. It is quite charming, but believed not to be an accurate account of his life.

[Des Essientes]

I would like to recommend two autobiographies both of which should be more well known than they are: Stefan Zweigs's "The World of Yesterday" and Salvador Dali's "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali". The former is incredibly interesting for its potrayal of the really strange world of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in its last decades, a place where pimpley faced students had the right to challenge any member of the gentry to a duel with sabres, and young professionals grew huge beards as soon as possible in an effort to appear as old as possible. The latter because the wealth of bizarre ancedotes that Dali relates about his life will have you believing that the man was a far far better storyteller than a painter.

[chrisvia]

Nabokov's Speak, Memory and The Education of Henry Adams.

[Jack of Hearts]

Things the Grandchildren Should Know by E. It helps if you like his music, though.






J

[Ghuyuran]

Yes, I strongly recommend Franklin's autobiography. It is an inspiring work of his time growing up and becoming one of the great man of American history. It goes hand in hand with Emerson's theories of self-reliance, though those are not necessary at all to perceive the characteristics Franklin promotes in himself and in others.

I would also reccommend any of the many versions of Frederick Douglass' autobiography. It is a detailed account of one man's fight against slavery in the United States.

[dfloyd]

Also, The Life of Benvenuto Cellini.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

...I would also reccommend any of the many versions of Frederick Douglass' autobiography. It is a detailed account of one man's fight against slavery in the United States.

Douglass' autobiography has been on my horizon list of reads for some time. Your post brought it a little closer. I am looking forward to reading it.

[van henden]

Also harold huges is very good and errol flynn is brilliiant funny.

[Patrick_Bateman]

Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky - A six week diary kept by Nijinsky during 1919 when he was in his 20s and the symptoms of Schizophrenia were truly becoming self-evident.

[KCurtis]

I have also heard good think about Benjamin Franklin's autobiography.

"Night" is absolutely incredible. Similarly, "Man's Search for Meaning" (Victor Frankle) is a great autobiography/psychological/philosophic account of his experience during the Holocaust.

I agree with you about "Night"- compelling and heartbreaking.

[KCurtis]

Nelson Mandela's "Long Walk to Freedom". Unforgettable.