Comparing autobiographies of the young and old

10 months ago 08th Jan 12:05

With the announcement that Leona Lewis is to write an autobiography for release later this year, it stands to question just how many years’ experience really warrant the need to be documented.

At the tender age of 23, Leona has hardly lived a long, fulfilled life, but she has conquered Britain and America with her musical talents, and been acquainted with a whole host of well-known celebrities since winning the X-Factor almost three years ago.

With this in mind, Kay Taylor looks at a growing trend of ‘serial autobiographies’, and compares the works and motives of some of the world’s most famous autobiographers from glamour model Jordan and the highly speculated Beckhams, to the more acclaimed Sir Michael Parkinson and Julie Walters.

Last year saw the release of some pretty impressive autobiographies from the likes of Fern Britton and Paul O’Grady, and it was refreshing to witness the change from a trend of ‘young’ autobiographers to much older, seemingly wiser ones.

Autobiographies are, by definition, ‘the story of one’s own life’, which suggests that people should wait until their later years to write one. In this sense, they can cover a vast array of events and subjects, and place each one into context with the knowledge of what happened next.

The predominant problem when people write their autobiographies at such a young age is that their story is by no means over, and so their account is merely a chapter of their life.

The advantage of this is that smaller events can be included into the book, and often in much more detail than an older autobiographer could account for.

When Victoria Beckham discussed the death threats she received following the birth of her first son in her 2001 autobiography, Learning to Fly, she felt that this was an influential part of her life.

“Victoria’s first encounters with David Beckham are made all the more interesting in that we know what happened next” Jonathan Weir

As traumatic as those experiences must have been, nothing physically terrible actually occurred from the death threats. Because of this, it’s debatable as to whether Victoria would have chosen to include this information in an autobiography had she written it later in life, or at least covered it in as much detail.

And indeed, Amazon.com’s reviewer, Jonathan Weir, said of the book: “Her first encounters with David Beckham are made all the more interesting in that we know what happened next”.

Learning to Fly primarily documents Victoria’s early relationship with David Beckham and the break-up of the Spice Girls, and seems relatively out of date now. Since the release of her autobiography, Victoria has faced rumours of her husband’s infidelity, embarked on a successful fashion career, and had two more children.