The Evolution of the Autobiography from 1770-1850

Autobiographical writings remained throughout long centuries relatively unaffected by literary modes and changes. From 1770-1850 new developments in literature (especially the emergence of the novel), as well as new trends in philosophy and aesthetics ushered in a new era reflective of a search for greater consciousness and sensibility, a revolutionary mode of thought and life that profoundly affected the autobiographical genre. This study examines a number of autobiographies which herald or reflect these new trends and developments, how these and the autobiographer's changing objectives decisively enriched and modified the genre, and how they gradually stir the genre toward an inevitable identity crisis.