Abstract
An autobiography deals with a specific case of historical contingency – the temporary nature of individual life. It is anchored in two interdependent contexts: a referential one (of the life it refers to) and a discursive one (of the narrative trajectory that shapes the reference). Through a reading of three autobiographies – St. Augustine's Confessiones, Montaigne's Essais, and Breytenbach's Dog Heart – the paper sets out to show how they in different ways use a double contextuality in a (vain) attempt to give the contingent subject a stable foundation. Autobiography is an ongoing process that exemplifies the contingency it tries to overcome.
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