In the Wake of the Memoir Boom: New Rhetoric of Woman’s Identity

Abstract

In the recent years, the autobiographical project has attained much critical attention as it has the potential to be the text of the oppressed, forging a right to speak both for and beyond the individual. The genre of autobiography seems to be one of the most direct ways of countering silences and absences. According to Georges Gusdorf “the autobiographer gives himself the job of narrating his own history” (Gusdorf 40). Hence writing an autobiography becomes an attempt to explore one’s identity, a quest for identity and thereby tries to give the self a narrative. Women try to assert their personal voice by imprinting themselves into the culture through self- narratives, which helps them to identify themselves and give them a voice.