Changing Social Conditions - Changing Auto/Biography

Abstract

The kind invitation to write an essay on recent life writing in Denmark gave rise to two lines of reflection: first, the question of biographies as a genre, and second, what would be significant in a specifically Danish context. Working academically with auto/biographical texts as well as teaching students the use of narrative material, I have witnessed a change in the genre over the years. Previously, both comprehensive biographies and more partial accounts of peoples' lives customarily aimed at understanding issues of a more general kind: for example, the development of a profession (Bertaux and Bertaux-Wiame), or the consequences of increasing state intervention in society’s institutions (Goodson and Hargreaves). Today, auto/ biographical material seems to aim for a perspective on the individual life, leaving the reader to make possible connections outside that life, rather than endeavoring to capture significant general trends in society.