Editing Autobiography (section)

=== 20th and 21st centuries ===
From the 17th century onwards, "scandalous memoirs" by supposed [[libertine]]s, serving a public taste for titillation, have been frequently published. Typically [[pseudonym]]ous, they were (and are) largely works of fiction written by [[ghostwriter]]s. So-called "autobiographies" of modern professional athletes and media celebrities—and to a lesser extent about politicians—generally written by a ghostwriter, are routinely published. Some celebrities, such as [[Naomi Campbell]], admit to not having read their "autobiographies".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-12-08 |title=YouTube star takes online break as she admits novel was 'not written alone' |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/08/zoella-bestselling-girl-online-written-siobhan-curham-zoe-sugg |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> Some sensationalist autobiographies such as James Frey's ''[[A Million Little Pieces]]'' have been publicly exposed as having embellished or fictionalized significant details of the authors' lives.

Autobiography has become an increasingly popular and widely accessible form. ''[[A Fortunate Life]]'' by [[Albert Facey]] (1979) has become an Australian literary classic.<ref>about-australia.com.au, 2010</ref> With the critical and commercial success in the United States of such memoirs as ''[[Angela’s Ashes]]'' and ''[[The Color of Water]]'', more and more people have been encouraged to try their hand at this genre. [[Maggie Nelson]]'s book ''The Argonauts'' is one of the recent autobiographies. [[Maggie Nelson]] calls it [[autotheory]]—a combination of autobiography and critical theory.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/0969725X.2018.1435401|title = Theory and the Everyday| journal=[[Angelaki]]| volume=23| pages=199–203|year = 2018|last1 = Pearl|first1 = Monica B.|s2cid = 149385079|url = https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/theory-and-the-everyday(73371c35-f38e-4bc1-bf71-896308d51c27).html}}</ref>

A genre where the "claim for truth" overlaps with fictional elements though the work still purports to be autobiographical is [[autofiction]].