The Value of the Individual: Self and Circumstance in Autobiography

In The Value of the Individual Karl Joachim Weintraub posits that autobiographies from ancient to modern times illustrate a growing awareness of the self and its place in society. He holds that individualism was nonexistent in the ancient and medieval periods. Instead, autobiographical writers of the time molded their views of self to previous models which lacked critical self-examination. Weintraub argues the advent of egoism in autobiographical works arose during the Renaissance, but the genre

In The Value of the Individual Karl Joachim Weintraub posits that autobiographies from ancient to modern times illustrate a growing awareness of the self and its place in society. He holds that individualism was nonexistent in the ancient and medieval periods. Instead, autobiographical writers of the time molded their views of self to previous models which lacked critical self-examination. Weintraub argues the advent of egoism in autobiographical works arose during the Renaissance, but the genre still lacked introspective self-analysis. The modern autobiography, claims Weintraub, began in the early modern period and came to fruition within the work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Weintraub introduces his argument with an analysis of Augustine’s autobiographical work Confessions. The monograph establishes that Augustine lived in an uneasy period of history where pagan religions were being replaced by the new religion of Christianity. “Augustine’s act of confessing,” Weintraub postulates, “becomes largely identical with self-searching… and self-assessment” in order to adhere to Christian morality. (p. 26) Yet Weintraub concludes that Augustine fails to see the effect of his actions on society at large. The introspective account is limited to one’s place with God and this trend continued with medieval autobiographical writers Peter Abelard and Petrarch. Weintraub writes that for Abelard and his Story of My Misfortunes “the essential features of his self-conception and self-portrayal … remained within the forms his culture provided.” (p. 91) This approach to self-conception was not dissimilar for Petrarch and his body of works. However, Weintraub holds while Petrarch limited his pursuits to understanding life within the criticism of his own personal qualities and vices, he introduced into autobiographical works the seeking of secular fame.

The Renaissance men Benvenuto Cellini and Jerome Cardano exhibit, according to Weintraub, egoism within their respective autobiographical accounts. Cellini’s self-aggrandizement and roguish approach to life along with Cardano’s seeking of fame through his scientific endeavors illustrate the rise of self-glorification. Despite the advent of ‘sovereign self,’ Weintraub concludes the period was one of naivety. Neither Cellini nor Cardano attempted to analyze their motives or interplay with the world in which they lived. Thus, while both illustrate a new burgeoning of self-awareness, Weintraub holds that the advent of individuality lacked the essential analysis required in understanding self.

According to Weintrub, it is with Michel de Montaigne’s Essais and the foundation of Protestantism that deeper self-analysis becomes evident. In Essais, Weintraub postulates Montaigne is the first to place self within the broader context of a world populated by individuals. Additionally, the Reformation allowed for a new popular focus on self. “The powerful Protestant insistence,” Weintraub writes, “that each man fulfill his calling forcefully drove society in the direction of individualistic differentiation.” (p. 229) Therefore, the individual Protestant employed self-analytical writing to determine whether one was predestined to salvation through the exhibition of God’s works within.

As the early modern period continued, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions became the precursor autobiographical work to a modern model of self. Weintraub maintains “the history of [Rousseau’s] experiences was put down in terms of their meaning for him” as an individual and not for interpreting his standing with God or society. (p. 318) Yet Rousseau failed to place his life within the context of the interplay between self and world. Instead, Weintraub posits Dichtung und Wahrheit, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is the first autobiographical work to present a modern self. Like his predecessors, Goethe recognized his individual uniqueness, that society consisted of individuals, and interpreted his experiences in relation to their own personal meanings. However, Weintraub writes Goethe “was highly conscious of [his own individuality’s] effect on the surrounding world.” (p. 336) Goethe’s understanding of life as a non-linear but evolving entity, where the study of the relationship between self and society is essential to self-awareness, forms the basis of modern autobiographical pursuits.

Weintraub’s monograph successfully argues an evolution of self from ancient to modern times. His inclusion of several autobiographical works throughout history supports his assertions, and by contextualizing the works in their respective periods Weintraub establishes the lineage of self. In order to understand a society, one must first understand how the people of the time viewed themselves. Therefore, The Value of the Individual contributes to the study of social and cultural history by illustrating the interpretation of self throughout time.