Memoir vs Autobiography
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Memoir or Autobiography?
You find yourself reading about the life of someone famous, probably a celebrity or the president of your country who happens to be the author of the book you are reading, when your friend asks you about what you are reading. Do you say it is a memoir or an autobiography?
These two words are often used interchangeably these days, which is actually pretty much acceptable these days especially in casual conversations. In fact, these two are technically in the same category or genre these days. However, for informative discussions, these two have different meanings.
Other words vary based on how they are used or perhaps the structure of the sentence you are about to use them in. What is interesting about these two words, however, is that their difference lies in the timeline of the story.
Both the memoir and autobiography are narratives of the story of the writer. They both contain key highlights that the writer wishes to convey or bring forth in the writing.
An autobiography, technically, is really about the entire life of the writer. If you see an autobiography, you should expect to read not just one or two aspects of the writer’s life, but an immense and overarching storyline. An autobiography, therefore, is a compilation of events, people, places, movements, etc. that make up an entire life of a person from childhood until the moment of writing or even until death. The life of the author is the entire story.
When it comes to writing autobiography, writers tend to be more formal and factual. It is, after all, a detailed narrative of one’s entire lifetime. As such, it is important to stay true to the facts of that person’s life.
Autobiographies are also naturally thicker and more comprehensive than a memoir, and as such, the writer would usually need the help of another writer to fully complete this. Of course, this isn’t a necessity; rather, it is for convenience.
A memoir, on the other hand, is less formal. It is not necessarily true that a memoir is shorter or just focuses on one aspect of the writer’s life. Memoirs are usually just more particular about the emotion of the person while events were happening, and therefore, the timeline is not as structured as an autobiography. Because emotions and ideas are at play here, memoirs are usually less factual than autobiographies.
Some people differentiate the two based on the time period the literary work covered. For instance, if it is from birth to death, people automatically assume it is an autobiography, and if it is only about a year or two in a city, it should be a memoir.
While this is not exactly incorrect, it is not the only way to differentiate a memoir from an autobiography. Autobiographies are usually like history books for a person while a memoir, being emotionally charged, can be likened to a diary in the sense that it is how the writer remembers that point in his or her life.
Memoir vs Autobiography? Do you agree with our differences and similarities between the two? Let us know below.