A History of English Autobiography explores the genealogy of autobiographical writing in England from the medieval period to the digital era. Beginning with an extensive introduction that charts important theoretical contributions to the field, this History includes wide-ranging essays that illuminate the legacy of English autobiography. Organized thematically, these essays survey the multilayered writings of such diverse authors as Chaucer, Bunyan, Carlyle, Newman, Wilde and Woolf. Written by a host of leading scholars, this History is the definitive, single-volume collection on English autobiography and will serve as an invaluable reference for specialists and students alike.

'Adam Smyth's revelatory history of the genre … told … in new ways, and with fresh examples …'

Thomas Keyer Source: London Review of Books

'This impressive collection resembles the genre with which it is concerned in so far as it pulls in several directions at once. … like autobiography, the book is suggestive, variegated, provocative.'

Trev Broughton Source: Life Writing

'Carefully argued, compelling, and ambitious, A History of English Autobiography extends the current revisionist approach to autobiography initiated by Patricia Meyer Spacks, Mary Poovey, Paul De Man, and Philippe Lejeune. Its interrogation of the genre and its rich range of rhetorical forms prove consistently illuminating. In sum, the collection advances the formal study of the self's written rendering.'

Katherine Kickel Source: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats