The Postmodern Autobiography: A Critique of Seeking Recognition from the Self

ABSTRACT Jean-Jacques Rousseau is widely credited as the originator of the modern autobiography. To the contemporary reader, his work in the Confessions is a familiar exer-cise in self-discovery and self-evaluation. Rousseau’s project is a courageous one: to lay bare the inner and often secret history of the self and share this revelation with the world. It is this project that was to change the way the individual communed with themselves and additionally changed the way the individual presented themselves to others. The claim the author wants advance in this article is the following: Our primary mode of communication is deeply autobiographical in nature, and yet, the kind of autobiographical work in which we are engaged has radically evolved such that it no longer accomplishes the task that has traditionally defined it. This article argues that rather than affirming the self via a journey of self-discovery and eventual recognition, autobiographical work now explicitly rejects the possibility of genuine recognition and, as a result, alienates and isolates the individual such that active participation within a community is not possible.