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Article: Biography and Autobiography
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY
BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Though the terms themselves appeared relatively late, "biography" in 1683 (first in English) and "autobiography" in 1789 (in German), writing "lives"
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whether one's own or other people's
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was practiced throughout the early modern period. A new interest in life narratives stemmed from major cultural changes witnessed by the Renaissance: new notions of the secular individual, an explosion of print culture, an emphasis on experience and on seeking truth in particulars, the development of Christian humanism, and the value attached to individual conscience and consciousness. Biography as a record of a life not merely used ...