There are many ways of telling someone’s life story. Biography vs Autobiographies are two of them. If we broadly speak then Biography means telling the story and events of someone else’s life while autobiography means telling the story and events of own life. Both are part of the nonfiction genre of literature.
Key Biography vs. Autobiography Differences
Biography vs autobiography may seem similar but there are numerous differences between the two, like:
Authorship:
- The biggest difference in terms of credibility and trust for a book is who has written it. As the autobiography is written by the person the book is about while a biography is written by someone other than the subject of the book.
Point of view:
- Since the autobiography is written by the person himself, therefore, it will contain his point of view. On the other hand, the biography is typically written in the third person’s point of view trying to give it a neutral value if possible.
Authorized vs unauthorized:
- The autobiography is always written under the supervision and control of an authorized person while the biography can either be on the authorized or unauthorized side.
The Biography
Biography can be defined as a nonfictional story of someone’s life written by any person other than himself. It is usually written by authors and historians on the life of some famous or historically important person.
The biography covers all the important events in the life of the subject, such as details of birth and place, early childhood, higher education, personal life, achievements, controversies, death, and its impact on society. It is mainly up to the author to decide the synopsis of a Biography. The writer often uses unknown sources to cover the controversial matters of the subject.
The Autobiography
Autobiography means telling the nonfictional story of life and events by oneself only. It simply means a biography written by self. It is the writer’s own take on their life and challenges faced and how they overcame those challenges. Autobiography is like a mirror image of the author or how the author himself sees and perceives oneself.
The autobiography usually covers the entire life event of the author in chronological order from birth up to the present time at the time of writing the autobiography. However, it is not necessarily and entirely dependent on the author. Apart from the facts of life events, it also covers the aim, personal experiences, and observations of the autobiographer on major circumstances of his/her life.
Forms of Writing
Since a Biography is the story of someone else’s life it is usually written in the third person point of view. To pay respect to the subject it contains a more sophisticated tone than an autobiography.
Autobiography on the other hand is the story of someone own’s life it is usually written in the first person point of view and the author has the liberty to decide what to show and what not to show in the content of the matter. The tone of an autobiography is somewhat less formal and sophisticated than a biography.
The Preparation
The writer of a biography undergoes deep research and study about the facts, events, and circumstances of the life of the subject especially on sensitive issues. They prepare for months and even years to collect authentic data and intricate details on the person’s life they are writing. Sometimes the author also needs to get authorization before writing a biography on someone’s life.
Since autobiography is someone’s own story and experience the author of the autobiography need not go into deep research and study as it is in the case of biography. The autobiographer simply needs to collect the basic facts and take a deep look inside oneself to prepare for an autobiography.
Importance of Biography and Autobiography
Both forms of Literature have the importance of their own. For instance, a biography is needed to get the most authenticated information on facts of a person’s life whose autobiography does not exist, whereas an autobiography is preferred over a biography to know the experiences, observations, and teachings of a person’s life. ‘The Story of My Experiments with Truth’ an autobiography by Mahatma Gandhi is a best example of that.
Thus we can say that apart from the fact that both are commentaries on the life events of a person there are many broad and minor differences between a biography and an autobiography. Be it preparation, forms of writing, tone of writing, content, importance, and so on.