‘In other people’s mouths’
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determines the nature of the autobiography and in so half-discovers, half-creates itself—
that opened up the subject of autobiography specifically for literary discussion, for behind
every work of literature there is an ‘I’ informing the whole and making its presence felt at
every critical point, and with out this ‘I,’ Sated or implied, the work would collapse into
mere insignificance” (21).
10. Much of Moody’s autobiography is haunted by an idea sounded in Hawthorne’s
footnote as to why he wore the veil: Hawthorne reports it is because Moody had
“accidentally killed his beloved friend.” And Moody traces the ramifications of that
statement and questions what F