Die Autobiografie der Anderen

What function does an autobiography fulfill for its authors and recipients? To what extent can references to the construction of the self be found in the text? And – this is the central question – can an immanent theory be developed from the reconstruction of the internal structure of an autobiography? What methodological approaches are necessary?
The study focuses on 49 texts, which the sociologist Birgit Panke-Kochinke analyzes and relates to her own life. In addition to autobiographies by scientists, writers, and artists, the study also includes comparative texts that, due to their formal structure, cannot be classified as autobiographies in the strict sense.