Claiming the I Autobiographies from Across the Spectrum

"CLAIMING THE I attempts to bring together a wide spectrum of autobiographical voices, both canonical and marginal. As such it questions the assumption that there is always a single template for writing one's life. The book traverses the field of autobiography writing from the 18th century autobiographies of Benjamin Franklin and Rousseau to versions of self-making of Gandhi and Richard Wright. It covers the field of women's, Dalit and trans-sexual lifewriting as well. Its primary purpose is to unpack singular and monolithic identities and to show that the autobiographical subject is always a complex and plural subject. MEENAKSHI MALHOTRA teaches English at Hansraj College, Delhi University. She has worked on theoretical aspects of women's lifenarratives as part of her doctoral research and has published widely on issues of subjectivity and self-representation."