ABSTRACT
It is safe to say that in the United States, biography is a valued genre in the field of non-fictional literary writing. In part, this is a reflection of this country’s enduring faith in individualism, its inexhaustible appetite for exceptional men and women, together with endless curiosity about their circumstances, motivation and beliefs, and, of course, their intimate secrets. New biographies of prominent public figures from the Founding Fathers to Steve Jobs often receive considerable media attention, become conversation topics at dinner and cocktail parties, and afford their authors more fame and money than typically accrue to practitioners of other forms of critical or historical writing. As a result, the “Biography” section of most Barnes and Noble bookstores is typically well stocked with volumes that attract readers and sell well. If we add the prefix “Auto,” the parameters of our discussion change very little. Autobiographies command arguably even more attention for the exceptionally visible individuals who truly meet the exacting standards of the genre (whatever collaborative or ghost-writing help they receive). The advance fee of $65 million rumored to have been offered to Barack and Michelle Obama for an account of their years in the White House is a very American way of signaling the perceived value of their latest projected autobiographies both as cultural phenomena and as marketable commodities.
