Memoir vs. Autobiography

What’s the difference?

By Deane Barker • • tags: books • 1 min read •

I consulted quite a few opinions, and the difference is pretty subjective. An autobiography is a factual account of someone’s life, whereas as a memoir is…murkier.

Here’s one opinion:

The difference between a memoir vs. an autobiography is that a memoir focuses on reflection and establishing an emotional connection, rather than simply presenting the facts about their life.

Here’s another:

A memoir is a type of writing that focuses on a specific period or event in the author’s life. It is typically written in the first person, and is often more subjective and emotional than a biography.

That distinction was pretty common. However, this article provides some more interesting differences:

  • In autobiography, authors usually tell their life stories because they are famous and important. A memoir-ist can be anybody, famous or not.

  • Autobiography usually covers the author’s entire life up to the point of writing, while memoir focuses only on a part of the author’s life.

  • People read autobiographies because they want to know about a particular (probably famous) person. They read memoirs because they are interested in a certain subject or story or they are drawn to the writer’s style or voice.

  • Autobiographies tend to be written in chronological order, while memoirs often move back and forth in time.

Given that distinction, I’m thinking of a couple of books I read last year:

Neither of these were autobiographies, clearly. They were both very emotional and reflective, skipped around in time, and covered only portions of the writer’s life.

However, I’m sure the two terms get used interchangeably. Who gets to decide if something is emotional enough to qualify as an memoir, rather than an autobiography?

Also, you hear “memoir” in the plural quite a bit – someone is “writing their memoirs.” Of course, according to our definitions above, someone could have more than one memoir – multiple published memoirs could apply to different parts of their life.

Why I Looked It Up

I just always wondered.

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