Over the past two decades an essential question has been debated among scholars of autobiography: can we 'touch the world' in writing? 1 Can an autobiographical text refer to a subject outside the text? Does a self create its autobiography, or does an autobiography create its self? A parallel and intimately related discussion explores the relationship of photography to the world. Odd that no one has thought of theĭisturbance (to civilization) which this new action causes. Of Photography, a limited possession, intended moreover to advertise a social andįinancial status-and in any case, a painted portrait, however close the Recent, the painted, drawn, or miniaturized portrait having been, until the spread

To see oneself (differently from in a mirror): on the scale of History, this action is Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of both the author and the University of Chicago Press. copyright law, and it may be archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that this entire notice, including copyright information, is carried and provided that the University of Chicago Press is notified and no fee is charged for access. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of U.S. Published by the University of Chicago PressĬopyright notice: Excerpt from pages 1-9 of Picturing Ourselves by Linda Haverty Rugg, published by the University of Chicago Press.

The end result is a book which is hard to put down-as it provides a new way of seeing and reading both texts and images.'-Sander L. Excerpt, Rugg, Picturing Ourselves 'Brilliantly using Walter Benjamin's theory of the photograph, Rugg reads the history of self-representations from Mark Twain to Benjamin himself through the double lens of the photographic record and the autobiography.

My inventions autobiographer