Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography Analysis

An autobiography is a self-written (or conjointly written with the help of a collaborator) account of the life and times of an individual and it usually follows a chronological order. Every autobiographical work tends to be a cry for the expression of identity and every autobiographical study yearns to understand the evolution of the individual. A few sociologists and psychologists have noted that autobiography offers the author a chance to reimagine history. This raises the ethical question of autobiography as a form of witnessing or testimony, an autobiography is only as good as a memory and though discrepancies are unavoidable (and difficult to refute) while considering the personal aspect, authors more or less tend to make use of accurate historical, political, economic, social and the cultural norms prevailing in their times.

Wikiquote). This quote rings quite true when considering the self-titled autobiography of one of the most influential men of the 20th century, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of an independent and democratic India. Nehru’s autobiography was first published in London in 1936 by John Lane, The Bodley Head Ltd. The book was first published in the Indian Subcontinent, New Delhi by the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, Teen Murti House in 1980. Jawaharlal Nehru dedicates this book to his beloved wife Kamala, who was also a freedom fighter and a passionate social activist. In the preface, Nehru states that his autobiography was penned entirely in prison and as such reflects a “particularly distasteful period” of his existence. Nehru took up the task of writing an autobiography as a way to occupy himself with ‘the long solitudes of goal life’ and to enable himself to think clearly of his active participation in the long struggle for freedom of his country, that led to his