Notable autobiographical novels

Notable autobiographical novels

See also: Category:Autobiographical novels

• Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850)
• George Borrow, Lavengro (1851)
• Leo Tolstoy, Childhood (1852)
• Charlotte Brontë, Villette (1853)
• Leo Tolstoy, Boyhood (1854)
• Leo Tolstoy, Youth (1856)
• Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days (1857)
• Fitz Hugh Ludlow, The Hasheesh Eater (1857)
• Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1860), which has many autobiographical elements but to a lesser extent
• George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860)
• Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868)
• Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (1903)
• D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers (1913)
• Jack London, John Barleycorn (1913)
• Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage (1915)
• James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise (1920)
• Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time (1927), aka A Remembrance of Things Past
• Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (1929)
• Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel (1929)
• Louis Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the End of the Night (1932), as well as "Death on Credit" (also, "Death on an Installment Plan") and subsequent books as well.
• Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933), a mock autobiography of Stein's secretary and companion purported to be Toklas's views of Stein.
• Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer (1934)
• Ayn Rand, We, the Living (1936)
• Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn (1939)
• James A. Michener, The Fires of Spring (1949), semi-autobiographical
• Graham Greene, The End of the Affair (1951)
• Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
• James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953)
• Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March (1953)
• William S. Burroughs, Junkie (1953)
• James Agee, A Death in the Family (1957)
• Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1957)
• Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (1958)
• Elie Wiesel, Night (1958), sometimes considered an autobiographical novel although classified as a memoir by the author.
• Ian Fleming, (1960s) Some of the James Bond experiences are based in his own World War II spy missions.
• Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco (1961)
• Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (1963)
• Kenzaburo Oe, A Personal Matter (1964)
• Isaac Bashevis Singer, In My Father's Court, (1966)
• Frederick Exley, A Fan's Notes (1967)
• Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)
• Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971)
• Rita Mae Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle (1973)
• Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1973)
• Pat Conroy, The Great Santini (1976)
• Samuel R. Delany, Heavenly Breakfast (1979)
• Philip K. Dick, VALIS (1981), perhaps the only book that could be considered both an autobiographical novel and a work of science fiction
• Isabel Allende, The House of Spirits (1982), includes many elements from her family history
• Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye (1982)
• J. G. Ballard, Empire of the Sun (1984)
• Marguerite Duras, The Lover (1984)
• Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985)
• Jaan Kross, The Wikman Boys (1988)
• Samuel R. Delany, The Motion of Light in Water (1988)
• Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried (1990)
• Davis Miller, The Tao of Muhammad Ali (1996), described as a 'non-fiction novel'.
• Homer Hickam, Rocket Boys (1998)
• James Frey, A Million Little Pieces (2003), marketed as a memoir before a media controversy questioned its accuracy.
• Craig Thompson, Blankets (2003), an autobiographical graphic novel.
• Tobias Wolff, Old School (2003), loosely based on Wolff's life although more novel than biography.
• Muhammad Ali with Hana Yasmeen Ali, The Soul of a Butterfly (2004)
• James Frey, My Friend Leonard (2005)
• Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007)
• Daniel Selby Retracing My Steps (2009)
• Peter Selgin, Life Goes to the Movies (2009)
• Mona Simpson, Anywhere But Here
• Tao Lin, Richard Yates (2010)