Autobiographies - any for Tudor England?
Not contemporary puff piece biogs, but personal accounts with insight and observation, written by the person's own hand.
The best link I could find is a bit odd, with a strained academic interpretation:
http://bjella.net/
My favourites are from Europe - they read like picaresque novels:
Italian artist Cellini - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benvenuto_Cellini#Cellini.27s_autobiography_and_other_writings
Medical student Platter - http://www.archive.org/details/belovedsonfelix007215mbp
Spanish Armada disaster story by de Cuellar - http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T108200/
The first thing that came to my mind was Edward VI's journal, although it is the only thing of its kind I can think of. There are some pretty good collections of letters, but I can't recall seeing anything along the lines of a modern autobiography.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lara. No link to an online version of the journal, but I did find this:
ReplyDeletehttp://tudorswiki.sho.com/page/Edward+VI+in+his+own+words
There is a life of Peter Carew written by John Hooker, which is based on conversations with the illiterate subject. It covers what would now be called a dysfunctional childhood. Interesting read.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5XcLAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Life+and+Times+of+Sir+Peter+Carew&source=bl&ots=fXE-7D0Vwp&sig=Ug8-61-HYbD6p5yuQ-nUIjTsMUM&hl=en&ei=95O8TPbsIJqK4gaJ3qnNDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false