avatarØivind H. Solheim

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Abstract

thus also about other people who have been present in my life? Is it wrong of me to embark on such a project?</p><p id="6695">— Should I think that I actually have the ability to write, and therefore I can write about what I have to write about. Am I able to write an autobiography that the reader would like to read?</p><p id="e6d7">Such a biography must be something that gives the reader something valuable, insights or knowledge, or both. Something that the reader can benefit or enjoy or become interested in in one way or another.</p><h2 id="c302">What does it mean to write an autobiography?</h2><p id="8a6e">— Will it say to describe and hand over oneself and one’s innermost thoughts?</p><p id="5311">No, I do not think that’s exactly my project. It is also not my project to gamble on feelings and to hand myself completely naked over to myself and others, or to create something that is sentimental enough that it attracts enough buyers / readers for the autobiography to be a good sales object that gives me income.</p><p id="c247">It is not this commercial goal that is my project. But I will try to investigate a little about what my life has been like, what important lessons I can learn from the life I have lived, and if there is anything there that may be of interest to others.</p><p id="cf4a">One goal for this writing can be to write exploratory and find out if there are insights, revelations, wisdom in what I have experienced, if there is something that others can learn from, if there are things that can be useful and help for others.</p><p id="f508">I think that writing an autobiography can be writing to help others remember and become aware of important things in their own lives. Writing an autobiography can be writing to give others ideas, thoughts and feelings that can help them in their lives.</p><p id="c4b8">Parts of my story are about being lonely and being outside, and not included in “the good company”. I must still be careful to say that in my life I am one that others have excluded, because I have not actually been an outsider in that way.</p><p id="7912">My fortune is perhaps that I have been lucky in that I have been included in important contexts where life has given me room to be myself and to develop as a young man and human being in my time.</p><p id="898e">Thank you for reading! If you liked, you may read more here:</p><h2 id="ec96">Previous:</h2><div id="6a12" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/a-lucky-man-an-autobiography-a-party-or-a-dance-on-roses-6ebae5d26356"> <div> <div> <h2>A Lucky Man — An autobiography: A party or a dance on roses?</h2>

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  <div><h3>I have chosen to have as a working title on this autobiography: “A happy man.” — Am I a happy man?</h3></div>
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    </div><p id="08fc"><a href="https://oivind47.medium.com/?source=post_page-----9a573cadfbd9--------------------------------"><i>Øivind H. Solheim</i></a><i> is a novel author and a nature photographer from Norway who loves writing fiction, poetry, essays, and articles helping others understand life, other humans, and themselves. He has published six novels, two non-fiction books, and a poetry book.</i></p><p id="c9cd"><a href="https://oivind47.medium.com/?source=entity_driven_subscription-98bb8d782ba3------------------------------------"><b><i>Visit Øivind H. Solheim’s profile</i></b></a></p><p id="903f"><a href="https://oivind47.medium.com/membership"><i>Become a Medium member, read thousands of writers and support my writing</i></a><i>.</i></p><div id="e21c" class="link-block">
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A Lucky Man — A Human Being in Life, In the World

An Autobiography (2)

Storlidalen, Trøndelag, Norway. Photo © Øivind H. Solheim

Autobiography and Truth

“All autobiographies are lies. I do not mean unconscious, unintentional lies; I mean deliberate lies. No man is bad enough to tell the truth about himself during his lifetime, involving, as it must, the truth about his family and friends and colleagues. And no man is good enough to tell the truth in a document which he suppresses until there is nobody left alive to contradict him.” (George Bernard Shaw, Sixteen Self Sketches, 1898)”

What is true? What is completely true? What is just a little true? What is not true at all? What interests others to read? What should remain private?

Not everything can be told in the autobiographical narrative. Everything that is told must have a function in the narrative.

I do not talk about everything, it is hardly fully possible. Certain moments and episodes in life can be important in the full and whole (= the completely private) narrative of a life, but they will still exclude themselves from the autobiographical narrative.

This also has to do with the aesthetics of the narrative; not everything can or should be said. There is no point in showing and sharing everything.

That which belongs in the autobiographical narrative

What are the lessons I can draw from my life today, as a seventy-three-year-old man?

What’s the point of writing an autobiography? Is it to present oneself as the one that one thinks one is / was, or as the one I think I will be perceived as? Or is it writing to investigate, writing to find out what happened?

I have not previously written or tried to write an autobiography. I have been interested in writing fiction; novels, short stories, experimental texts and poems. And I have been writing articles. But I have never before thought that I should seriously write about myself and my life, “straight forward” and truthful. But that’s what I’ve started with now.

I’m a little unsure about this project. Am I free to do this, do I have excessive faith in and confidence in myself, what I have experienced in life and my own abilities to write about this?

Am I able to write interesting and truthful about my life and thus also about other people who have been present in my life? Is it wrong of me to embark on such a project?

— Should I think that I actually have the ability to write, and therefore I can write about what I have to write about. Am I able to write an autobiography that the reader would like to read?

Such a biography must be something that gives the reader something valuable, insights or knowledge, or both. Something that the reader can benefit or enjoy or become interested in in one way or another.

What does it mean to write an autobiography?

— Will it say to describe and hand over oneself and one’s innermost thoughts?

No, I do not think that’s exactly my project. It is also not my project to gamble on feelings and to hand myself completely naked over to myself and others, or to create something that is sentimental enough that it attracts enough buyers / readers for the autobiography to be a good sales object that gives me income.

It is not this commercial goal that is my project. But I will try to investigate a little about what my life has been like, what important lessons I can learn from the life I have lived, and if there is anything there that may be of interest to others.

One goal for this writing can be to write exploratory and find out if there are insights, revelations, wisdom in what I have experienced, if there is something that others can learn from, if there are things that can be useful and help for others.

I think that writing an autobiography can be writing to help others remember and become aware of important things in their own lives. Writing an autobiography can be writing to give others ideas, thoughts and feelings that can help them in their lives.

Parts of my story are about being lonely and being outside, and not included in “the good company”. I must still be careful to say that in my life I am one that others have excluded, because I have not actually been an outsider in that way.

My fortune is perhaps that I have been lucky in that I have been included in important contexts where life has given me room to be myself and to develop as a young man and human being in my time.

Thank you for reading! If you liked, you may read more here:

Previous:

Friend link: A Lucky Man — An Autobiography: A Party or a Dance on Roses? (1)

Next:

Øivind H. Solheim is a novel author and a nature photographer from Norway who loves writing fiction, poetry, essays, and articles helping others understand life, other humans, and themselves. He has published six novels, two non-fiction books, and a poetry book.

Visit Øivind H. Solheim’s profile

Become a Medium member, read thousands of writers and support my writing.

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