“Autobiographical in feeling but not in fact”: The finale of Alice Munro’s "Dear Life"
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Date
2015
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Adam Mickiewicz University
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Abstract
Alice Munro has always been known for reworking personal material in her stories. On numerous
occasions she openly admitted to adopting some of her real experiences into her fiction, yet at the
same time she declared that her writing remains fictional, not autobiographical. However, the
writer’s attitude seems to have changed with the publication of Dear Life (2012), supposedly the
last book in her career. In the note preceding the last four stories in the collection, she suggests that
they might constitute her autobiography.
This article discusses “The Eye,” “Night,” “Voices” and “Dear Life” in relation to Munro’s
biography. It reflects on the narrative techniques the author uses to create the impression of authenticity
and autobiographicality in the stories. It also aims to answer the question whether they should
be indeed classified as Munro’s autobiography.
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Keywords
Alice Munro, autobiographical pact, autobiography, Dear Life, fictional pact
Citation
Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, vol. 50.2-3 (2015), pp. 141-153