This essay examines some of the recent theories on
autobiography, and specifically on female autobiography. It tackles
thus the particular problems of marginality and search for identity
that recur in some of the autobiographies written by women in the
last two decades, dealing with D.C. Stanton's proposal of
autogynography. These theoretical principles are applied to the
analysis of Rebecca West's Family Memories (1987), Antonia
White's As Once in May. The Early Autobiography of Antonia
White and Other Writings (1983), and Kathleen Raine's Farewell
Happy Fields (1973), The Land Unknown (1975) and The Lion's
Mouth (1977).
