Putting Lives on the Record: The Book as Material and Symbol in Life Writing

Abstract

This article develops an understanding of the role of life writing in putting marginalized voices on the record by examining the material and symbolic history of the book and its relationship with life writing. Taking two key points in the history of the book as its focus, the article argues that "the record" is a material and symbolic performative site that authorizes a life writer's claims to knowledge and experience. Through a reading of Jean-Paul Sartre's 1963 autobiography Les Mots (The Words) the article demonstrates the importance of the book to how life writers and scholars of life writing conceptualize the cultural, political, and social importance of telling stories from life.