symbolism
As for autobiography, how accurate does it have to be to what happened in our lives in actuality for it to be considered autobiographical?
I have a tendency to be indirect. Maybe it has to do with my heritage-- the Koreans are known to be very round-a-bout in their thinking, as exhibited in the indirectness of their language. Maybe it is easier to dive deep into my true feelings if I am hiding behind a mask of metaphors, and no one can be exactly sure of what I mean about something.
Thus, when I write autobiographical or reflective pieces, I am either extremely vague (never addressing anyone by their names for example), or I put in so many metaphors and symbolism that no one is quite sure which parts actually happened.
Although these pieces don’t follow each event in my life precisely as recallable by other witnesses, I do consider them to serve an autobiographical purpose in my writing them. I am telling something about myself and my life. I am recording what has happened to me.
One such piece is my prose, “Marionette.”
image copyright Karen Kim
Evaluation based on The Autobiographical Pact:
1. A. narrative yes
B. prose yes
2. Individual life, story of a personality yes
3. Author= narrator yes but narrator is weird, and refers to herself in 3rd person (then again, so do other Koreans, often)
4. A. narrator= main character yes but “ “
B. retrospective point of view yes
In the autobiographical pact, accuracy is not one of the requirements. The main issue my piece has against this standard is that I refer to myself in 3rd person, but I assure you, I find myself doing that in real life as well, especially when I am trying to seem intelligent (though I am unsure of how not being able to refer to yourself directly makes you seem at all intelligent) or when I am trying to distance myself from myself. Then again, I think it would be extremely difficult for anyone other than myself to determine that the main character is me, with exception people who know me extremely well. I made it vague in case the main character was associated with me, it would be a bit up in the air-- perhaps as Marcel and Proust or Mishima and the main character may not be the same person.
Then again, who is the same in retrospect as they are in the present? Do we not change and become different people with time? Then again, according to the 4th dimension theory, we are the same, even if we are not to occupy a certain space until a later time.
To read my piece "Marionette" go here: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation.6167369/"
I have a tendency to be indirect. Maybe it has to do with my heritage-- the Koreans are known to be very round-a-bout in their thinking, as exhibited in the indirectness of their language. Maybe it is easier to dive deep into my true feelings if I am hiding behind a mask of metaphors, and no one can be exactly sure of what I mean about something.
Thus, when I write autobiographical or reflective pieces, I am either extremely vague (never addressing anyone by their names for example), or I put in so many metaphors and symbolism that no one is quite sure which parts actually happened.
Although these pieces don’t follow each event in my life precisely as recallable by other witnesses, I do consider them to serve an autobiographical purpose in my writing them. I am telling something about myself and my life. I am recording what has happened to me.
One such piece is my prose, “Marionette.”
image copyright Karen KimEvaluation based on The Autobiographical Pact:
1. A. narrative yes
B. prose yes
2. Individual life, story of a personality yes
3. Author= narrator yes but narrator is weird, and refers to herself in 3rd person (then again, so do other Koreans, often)
4. A. narrator= main character yes but “ “
B. retrospective point of view yes
In the autobiographical pact, accuracy is not one of the requirements. The main issue my piece has against this standard is that I refer to myself in 3rd person, but I assure you, I find myself doing that in real life as well, especially when I am trying to seem intelligent (though I am unsure of how not being able to refer to yourself directly makes you seem at all intelligent) or when I am trying to distance myself from myself. Then again, I think it would be extremely difficult for anyone other than myself to determine that the main character is me, with exception people who know me extremely well. I made it vague in case the main character was associated with me, it would be a bit up in the air-- perhaps as Marcel and Proust or Mishima and the main character may not be the same person.
Then again, who is the same in retrospect as they are in the present? Do we not change and become different people with time? Then again, according to the 4th dimension theory, we are the same, even if we are not to occupy a certain space until a later time.
To read my piece "Marionette" go here: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation.6167369/"
