This is a question
I have privately pondered. I've considered posing it many times and
in many places.
What, if any, are the ethics of
autobiography? How much consideration must one give the lives
of others, those lives intersecting one's own life, when
telling one's own story?
I'd write more
autobiographical articles but I wonder just how much it is legitimate
to say about other people, people who aren't famous, people who just
happened to cross paths with my existence. Do I not have a right to
tell my own story? In the telling, how much of their stories is it
just and all right to share?
At least twice
recently on JU the ethics of autobiography have been questioned.
PoetMom's son objected to
being portrayed within her blog, even though we have no way of
knowing who he actually is, and Trina
was harshly criticized for writing about her emotions and reactions
to a friend's serious illness.
The flood of
emotions unearthed by brushing against my high school past has
practically compelled me to start typing out my story. These
questions continue to hold me back.
So I ask you, dear
readers, what are the ethics of autobiography? Are there any? Or is
anything that comes into my life subject to exiting out my keyboard?
If one takes the Truman Capote position of "What did they expect? I'm
a writer!" should one automatically expect the Truman Capote
ostracism backlash?