Autobiography as literature

When searching for more information about Maya Angelou and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I came across this article, which contains the following anecdote:

By age 40, Angelou had had many careers, working as a journalist, poet, civil rights activist, and singer. She was also a member of the Harlem Writers Guild, where she became friends with author James Baldwin. In 1968, Baldwin took her to a dinner party at the cartoonist Jules Feiffer’s house. Angelou charmed guests with stories of her childhood; the next day, Feiffer’s wife called editor Robert Loomis at Random House and said that he should get Angelou to write a memoir. When he brought it up, Angelou said, “Absolutely not.” Loomis replied, “It’s just as well, because to write an autobiography as literature is just about impossible.” Angelou, who liked a challenge, said, “I’ll start tomorrow.”

Especially in the context of YA novels, which tend to be narrated in first person and often focus more on character than plot, it is interesting to consider the divide between biographical and fictional elements in a story. Angelou’s descriptions of certain events give the novel suggest that it is a “true story”; one anecdote in particular that stands out for me is the scene where Maya says “by the way” to Bailey, and Momma whips both children because of it (p. 102-103). This anecdote is somewhat unusual, and seems too specific to simply be made up for the sake of a fictional novel. Compared to the non-specific, narrator-could-be-anyone style used in Seventeenth Summer as well as many more contemporary YA novels, Angelou’s narration seems more personal and meaningful, and compared to the consistently (and often intentionally) unreliable narration of Holden in The Catcher in the Rye, Maya’s narration seems much more believable.

As we continue to explore YA as a genre, and what it means to be a YA novel or YA author, it is important to consider novels like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which contains many of the elements of a “typical” YA novel, and simultaneously contains significant differences, perhaps due to its believability and distinctly autobiographical nature.