Non - fiction

NON - FICTION

THE DIARY

The diary is an informal record of day-to-day events, observations and reflections, usually not intended for a general readership.

• It usually contains references to time and place.
• It follows a chronological order: the pages are written daily or at short intervals.
• It lacks a real addressee, the narration usually starts with these words "Dear diary,.".
• The narrative is in the first person.
• In the descriptive and meditative sequences is used the present tense, instead, to report recent events is used the present perfect.
• The language is simple and the tone is informal.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

An autobiography is a person's own biography, or a written account of his life. It can take two main forms.

• Informal autobiography: it includes journals or diaries, intimate writings, which usually emphasise what is remembered rather than who is remembering it. The author describes, presents people and events that he consider very significant.
• Formal autobiography: it's a true picture of what the author has to reveal about his life.     An event recorded in author's youthful diary it will be different later, when the autobiographer will reshapes his materials.

THE BIOGRAPHY

Biography is the account of a person's life written by someone else who draws upon sources, memories and all available written, oral and pictorial evidence. Biography is a branch of personal story, it is focuses un a single human being and narrates his details.

There are different kinds of biography.

• Critical biography: it offers a genuine presentation of a life. No manipulation of material and fictional devices are permitted, and the life generally develops in chronological order.
• Interpretative biography: it is subjective. Material is not invented but it is freely interpreted.
• Standard biography: it's objective is the faithful portrait of a soul in its life adventures. It pays great attention to the inner life of the character (motivations, emotions, attitudes).

Pictorial documents may be useful in a biography to point out the particular features of the character. To analyse a picture it's good to follow this scheme.

• Descriptive function: describe the picture in details and locate objects and sitters in space and time.
• Code: study the technique employed by the maker like the lines, the colours, the shapes.
• Expressive function: identify the information about the maker's and the theme's emotions.