Nonfiction

Nonfiction is a narrative based on real events, facts, real people and their actions. It doesn’t have any elements of imagination of the author. It is a genre of literature that has occurred somewhere or to someone before. There are forms of nonfiction.

Autobiography
‘Auto’ means ‘self’. Autobiography is simply a factual story about someone written by himself or herself. It doesn’t cover the entire lifetime of the person, who lives the life. It uses first person (I and We) to narrate since the story is about himself or herself. Examples: Ake by Wole Soyinka, Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela.

Biography
It is a real narrative of a person written by another writer. It centers on the experience of the person, how s/he lives his life. In short, it tells the history or story of someone based on the evidence ___ physical encounters, audios, videos, pictures, writings ____ that the writer has access to. Biography can cover the lifetime of a person if the writer outlives the subject. The narrative technique of a biography is third person (she/he) objective. Example: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.

Memoir
Memoir has a close meaning with autobiography because they both tell about the writing of a person who lives the life. However, memoir is the recollection of an important event which the writer takes part in. It is from the French words ‘memoire’ and Latin ‘memoria’ meaning memory and remembrance. It centers itself on the personal experience of an important event within a timeframe in which the narrator is also an actor. Example: There Was A Country by Chinua Achebe.

Journal
Journal is a publication on a research work about a particular field of study in a higher institution of learning. A journal is occasional and it is within a department in an institution.


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