Writing an autobiography can lead to profound self-discovery and challenge long-held assumptions. The act of writing promotes reflection, revealing the real impact of experiences and decisions beyond ...

MR. EDMUND GOSSE, commenting on the lack of literary curiosity in the early years of the seventeenth century, ascribes it to a growing desire for real knowledge, to an increasing seriousness of mind.

Janet Malcolm once emailed to tell me she found an introduction I had written for my book on writers’ deaths, which included my own thoughts on a childhood illness, to be “surprising” but “powerful.” ...