Memories of the War and Transition in Personal History Writing! Approaches from Books on How to Write One’s Own Personal History

• Main Author: Natsuko SHAKU
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Global Institute for Japanese Studies, Korea University 2017-06-01
• Series: Gwagyeong Ilboneo Munhak Yeongu
• Subjects: personal history; books on how to write one's own personal history; war experience; transition; personal history industry
• Online Access: https://www.bcjjl.org/upload/pdf/bcjjlls-4-1-153.pdf

Personal history has taken root firmly and become widely recognized in the society today. However, now that 40 years have passed since its inception, both the perception of personal history and writers' needs have changed in tune with changing times and society. The purpose of this article is to reveal the transition process in personal history by analyzing books on how to write one's own personal history. At the early stage of personal history, it could not be discussed without including one's war experience. As time went by, the generation that had experienced the war decreased. As a result of analyzing books on how to write one's own personal history, personal history was divided into three stages: I (early stage of personal history; the generation whose readers were deeply involved in the war), II (establishment stage of personal history; the generation whose readers were somehow involved in the war), III (generalization of personal history; decrease in the number of people who experienced the war). The contents of books on how to write one's own personal history have shifted from the trend of putting emphasis on descriptions of theory and essence to that of showing know-how to write one's own personal history such as writing styles and bookmaking.