Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life

Clinton John Machann (Texas A&M University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1796

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Autobiography (any)

Resources

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Edward Gibbon’s

Memoirs of My Life

, popularly known as his

Autobiography

, was the first extended autobiography by a prominent Englishman to be printed and widely disseminated within a few years of his death. After completing the sixth and final volume of his

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

(1776-1789), the monumental work that made him famous, Gibbon began to write the story of his life. However, Gibbon himself did not produce a unified text of the autobiography; instead, he left at his death in 1794 six distinct autobiographical fragments, which were consolidated into a single narrative by his friend, John Holroyd, Earl of Sheffield, and incorporated into the

Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, Esq.

(1796). The

Memoirs

were printed separately in 1827, and again…

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1408 words

Citation: Machann, Clinton John. "Memoirs of My Life". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 June 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9796, accessed 20 April 2024.]

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