Everyday Canvas

The Missing of Truth in Biographies and Autobiographies

Prompt: Since “know thyself” is a highly overrated piece of wisdom which, at times, proves to be impossible, what do you think of those biography writers who claim to have the insight into someone else’s psyche? Shouldn’t that biography book be considered as a form of fiction?

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If not entirely, most of the biographies have false parts in them, I am sure. I don’t know if they should be considered fiction or non-fiction, but certainly, they do not tell the entire truth. If anything, a fictional work such as a novel or story may show the deep truth about people and circumstances with more insight.

An autobiography is a bit different if it is written only by the person himself and only if that person has a good insight into his own character, and even that is very rare. I do not believe in autobiographies written by a ghost writer, as the relationship and the openness of telling of truth between the ghost writer and the person can be suspect, as well.

The reason I thought of this prompt is because a friend of mine was mentioned in a politician’s autobiography penned by a ghost writer. That friend was fuming because the politician, to make herself/himself look like a hero, had all kinds of falsehoods about other people inside the book. Moreover, my friend is a private person and no permission was asked to use her name. Of course, she could take legal action, but she chooses not to do that for the trouble it will cause her in the long run and I don’t blame her for not doing it.

Forget about non-writers. Even writers, when writing autobiographies talk too much about other people. Even J.D. Salinger did that to Joyce Maynard. But then Joyce Maynard has her autobiography, too.

Although, during my teens, I had great thirst for reading autobiographies and biographies, these days I am taking them with a grain of salt. I have since decided to stick to real fiction for the search of truth.