Episode 76: Autobiography

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour (until Gilmour has to leave for a meeting) about the genre autobiography, its roots, and what separates the good ones from the mediocre ones. At stake in our discussion are the problems of presenting one's own self and the narration of interiority, and along the way we also dig into questions of the ways in which memoirs should be true. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are Augustine's Confessions, The Autobiography of Ben Franklin, Jean Jacques Rousseau, A Million Little Pieces, and the difference between autobiography and memoir.