Long neglected by critics and theorists, thought not by readers, autobiography is now beginning to receive the critical attention it deserves. Diverse tendencies in recent critical and cultural theory, from the use of linguistic and rhetorical models to an opposed emphasis of 'reality', have combined to give autobiography a new importance. The ten essays in this collection address from different vantage points the larger problems posed by the form and the question of its institutional and cultural marginality. Delving into the history, theory, and practice of autobiography, the essays address...

These essays-which consider a wide variety of cultures from ancient Egypt to contemporary Japan- describe the conditions under which cultures that do not dominate each other may yet achieve a limited translatability of cultures.

The essays collected in this volume attest to a renewal of philosophical interest in how bodies think and how thought is embodied, a philosophy that has been deeply influenced by literature, the arts, and psychoanalysis.