Leigh Gilmore's "Self-Representation: Instabilities in Gender, Genre, and Identity"

Gilmore mentions towards the beginning of her chapter that most narratives or autobiographies portray the "hero" as Western, white, and male, and he identifies his perspective with "a God's-eye view and, from that divine height, sums up his life" (17). This certainly has been true from the readings we had for last week. St. Augustine, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Benjamin Franklin: three men telling their stories from a rather lofty position.

Gilmore uses Audre Lorde's Zami: A New Spelling of My Name to identify the multiple difficulties in defining autobiography. Lorde does not claim to write an autobiography but a biomythology. She changes the name of the genre, and this parallels the change in her own name. Other problems include her race and her sexual orientation in addition to her gender. We have been attempting to define autobiography, and this is problematic. It was mentioned in the chapter that we know what autobiography is, but it is hard to define. We have guidelines, especially involving the definition of the "I" and the author-narrator-protagonist relationship. But, is this a genre that can be clearly and easily defined?

Towards the end of the chapter, Gilmore uses four examples of what happens when there is an interruption in the autobiography - whether it is "edited" by another (Bolton), censured by the public (Tillich), written from a different viewpoint ("Dora"), or taken for another's work (Cavendish) all examples involve women. This reminds me of a canonical article by Linda Nochlin entitled "Why Have There Been No Great Female Artists?" Basically, women have not had the same opportunities as men, and they have had greater domestic responsibilities. This is in addition to social and cultural pressures on women who have attempted to become artists. They were not allowed to become artists. My mind turns to Angelica Kauffman who was one of the most successful female artists of the Eighteenth Century. She was trained by her father (much like Annibale Carracchi) and since her first marriage was scandalous, she did not have the traditional domestic responsibilities of other women. She was encouraged to become a great artist. Similarly in autobiography, perhaps women were not allowed to tell their stories. This seems to be the case from the four examples of Bolton, Tillich, Dora, and Cavendish.