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/lit/ - Literature

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21330869 No.21330869 [Reply] [Original]

I like reading autobiographies from a long time ago that give you an idea of how people really were back then.
I have
>The Confessions by Saint Augustine
>The Autobiography of Benevenuto Cellini
>The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Any other recommendations?

>> No.21330871

Memories from Beyond the Grave of Chateaubriand.

>> No.21330878
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21330878

>>21330869
Casanova's memoirs. This is who Thackeray's Barry Lyndon (also a great Kubrick movie) was based off.

>> No.21330901

Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey.

>> No.21330920

>>21330869
>The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
You don't need more. That book is madness.

>> No.21331007

>>21330869
Franklin’s is good.

>> No.21331024

>>21330878
>Casanova's memoirs
do they have any useful tips on wooing the damsels?

>> No.21331871
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21331871

>>21330869

>> No.21331872

>>21331024
He fucked lolis

>> No.21331874

>>21330869
Libanius' Autobiography

>> No.21331947

>>21330920
What you mean? I read his Discourse and Social Contract and liked them both a lot for how nice Rousseau’s prose is and interesting points even though I don’t agree with him. I want to read more from him.

>> No.21332085

>>21331947
>One of the first things he talks about is how his governess used to spank him and it turned him on.
>His first relationship was with an older woman whom he called "Mommy".
>There's multiple time when men tried to rape him.
And that's just the beginning.

>> No.21332534

>>21332085
wtf I like Rousseau now

>> No.21332637

>>21330869
World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig
Outlaws by Ernst von Salomon
Questionnary by Ernst von Salomon

>> No.21332654
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21332654

>>21332085
>that moment where his older /ss/ waifu is knitting and he's watching her in the mirror and he realizes she knows he's there and she simply points a single finger at the ground at her feet

>> No.21332692

The Diary of Samuel Pepys (pronounced "peeps") is a treasure trove. Not only is it of historical importance — he lived in London during the Restoration, the Great Fire and the last outbreak of the bubonic plague — but it's also hilarious. He manages to be both retarded and keenly insightful, as he lays bare his own psychological hangups. Since I'm American, I've never heard it discussed much; I wonder how popular it actually is among the Britons. Highly recommend.

Also, while he doesn't write autobiographies, Jerome K. Jerome's writings are peak comfy. I haven't read his most popular work, "Three Men on a Boat," but his "Idle Thoughts" make me actually lol. It has a very similar vibe to "The Wind in the Willows," which may or may not be inspired by him.

If you value history from a nitty-gritty perspective, Thomas Carlyle's "The French Revolution" is essential. He's a great writer and damn hilarious. Again, it's not an autobiography but does contain piercing mini-biographies of the movers and shakers during that time.

Caesar's commentaries are obviously autobiographical, even if they don't fit the mold of modern autobiographies. They are of historical import, though they are understandably written with a heavy bias.

>> No.21332718
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21332718

I forgot to mention what is possibly my favorite autobiography: The Book of Margery Kempe. She's a full-on retarded slut from the early 1400s who met Julian of Norwich when the latter was an anchorite. Poor Julian had to deal with this crazy bitch... Anyways, it's very short and incredibly hilarious if you don't take it at face value. If you read anything ITT, be sure to read this one.

>> No.21332733

Get Weintraub's book on autobiography, it's comfy

>> No.21332742

>>21330920
>>21332085

true, rousseau was fucking weird. tf was wrong with all those french enlightenment writers?

>> No.21332748

>>21330871
THIS.

>> No.21332762

seconding chateaubriand, mme de remusat, marbot, wagner

disrecommended overrated snoozefests: goethe, stendhal, casanova

>> No.21332781

The Duke de Saint-Simon's memoirs

The Goncourt brothers' journal

>> No.21332901

>>21330869
Mein Kampf.

>> No.21333087

>>21332085
I feel like he made a lot of that stuff up which almost makes him weirder

>> No.21333388

>>21332781
What am I to expect from the Goncourts' Journals

>> No.21333548

>>21330871
Good book

>> No.21333560

>>21333388
>Nietzsche loved them
>a famous French author in the middle of a rambling disquisition on something says "Excuse me," runs to the window to vomit drunkenly from it, then returns and resumes his speech

>> No.21333720

>>21333560
Niceee