Autobiographical Novel - Notable Autobiographical Novels

Notable Autobiographical Novels

See also: Category:Autobiographical novels
  • Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850)
  • George Borrow, Lavengro (1851)
  • Leo Tolstoy, Childhood (1852)
  • Charlotte Brontë, Villette (1853)
  • Leo Tolstoy, Boyhood (1854)
  • Leo Tolstoy, Youth (1856)
  • Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days (1857)
  • Fitz Hugh Ludlow, The Hasheesh Eater (1857)
  • Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1860), which has many autobiographical elements but to a lesser extent
  • George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860)
  • Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868)
  • Ante Kovačić, U registraturi
  • Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (1903)
  • D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers (1913)
  • Jack London, John Barleycorn (1913)
  • Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage (1915)
  • James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise (1920)
  • Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time (1927), aka A Remembrance of Things Past
  • Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (1929)
  • Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel (1929)
  • Louis Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the End of the Night (1932), as well as "Death on Credit" (also, "Death on an Installment Plan") and subsequent books as well.
  • Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933), a mock autobiography of Stein's secretary and companion purported to be Toklas's views of Stein.
  • Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer (1934)
  • Ayn Rand, We, the Living (1936)
  • Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn (1939)
  • James A. Michener, The Fires of Spring (1949), semi-autobiographical
  • Graham Greene, The End of the Affair (1951)
  • Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
  • James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953)
  • Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March (1953)
  • William S. Burroughs, Junkie (1953)
  • James Agee, A Death in the Family (1957)
  • Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1957)
  • Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (1958)
  • Elie Wiesel, Night (1958), sometimes considered an autobiographical novel although classified as a memoir by the author.
  • Ian Fleming, (1960s) Some of the James Bond experiences are based in his own World War II spy missions.
  • Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco (1961)
  • Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (1963)
  • Kenzaburo Oe, A Personal Matter (1964)
  • Isaac Bashevis Singer, In My Father's Court, (1966)
  • Frederick Exley, A Fan's Notes (1967)
  • Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)
  • Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971)
  • Rita Mae Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle (1973)
  • Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1973)
  • Pat Conroy, The Great Santini (1976)
  • Samuel R. Delany, Heavenly Breakfast (1979)
  • Philip K. Dick, VALIS (1981), perhaps the only book that could be considered both an autobiographical novel and a work of science fiction
  • Isabel Allende, The House of Spirits (1982), includes many elements from her family history
  • Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye (1982)
  • J. G. Ballard, Empire of the Sun (1984)
  • Marguerite Duras, The Lover (1984)
  • Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985)
  • Jaan Kross, The Wikman Boys (1988)
  • Samuel R. Delany, The Motion of Light in Water (1988)
  • Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried (1990)
  • Lydia Davis, The End of The Story (1994)
  • Davis Miller, The Tao of Muhammad Ali (1996), described as a 'non-fiction novel'.
  • Homer Hickam, Rocket Boys (1998)
  • James Frey, A Million Little Pieces (2003), marketed as a memoir before a media controversy questioned its accuracy.
  • Craig Thompson, Blankets (2003), an autobiographical graphic novel.
  • Tobias Wolff, Old School (2003), loosely based on Wolff's life although more novel than biography.
  • Muhammad Ali with Hana Yasmeen Ali, The Soul of a Butterfly (2004)
  • James Frey, My Friend Leonard (2005)
  • Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007)
  • Peter Selgin, Life Goes to the Movies (2009)
  • Mona Simpson, Anywhere But Here
  • David Gregory Roberts,Shantaram (2003) A novel.
  • Tao Lin, Richard Yates (2010)

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