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Renderings Of The Self: The Inception Of Autobiographical Writing In Robinson, Wollstonecraft, And Wordsworth, Hannah M. Dewitt

Honors Projects

This paper covers the origination of British autobiography and investigates why authors began to write autobiographically through the analysis of three pioneering autobiographical works: The Prelude by William Wordsworth, Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft, and Memoirs of Mary Robinson, “Perdita,” by Mary Robinson. In each section of this paper, I examine these stories and authors individually and attempt to unearth what pushed each author toward autobiographical writing in relation to what drove them to publish their work. I argue that autobiography is centered around rendering oneself, and that self-renderings …