A Short Investigation of Existence

Write a response of at least 350 words in which you consider the following passage from Phillipe Lejeune's "The Autobiographical Pact (bis)"

"What illusion to believe that we can tell the truth, and to believe that each of us has an individual and autonomous existence! How can we think that in autobiography it is the lived life that produces the text, when it is the text that produces the life!"




While existence can be real and unique for each individual, it is impossible for a piece of writing to contain all the facts of one’s life. The impossibility always results in intended or unintended bias in every written work of which autobiography is not an exception.

Evaluation of existence is a privilege assigned only to the subject of it. From a philosophical viewpoint, the existence of whole universe depends on whether the subject exists or not. If one did not exist, everything around him does not mean anything to him, and therefore nothing can exist. Lejeune’s claim that no one’s existence can be individual or autonomous cannot be verified since it is in his own existence that he thinks so. Unless he has lived in another’s existence and found it same as his own, his claim does not establish. While a whole universe is dependent on individual existences, it is even ridiculous to examine the possibility of autonomous existence.

His claim about the truth does not make sense either as “the truth” might differ in different existences. For example, in the film The Truman Show, the protagonist’s truth is that he lives in the real world for the most part of the movie, and the audience thinks the fact is that Truman lives in a fake world. However, the audience cannot tell definitely that they are not being watched themselves. It is from a great arrogance that Lejeune says no one can speak the truth.

Even if one accepts individual existence and different truths, the idea of a perfect autobiography is only virtual. For an autobiography to be free of bias, it has to be an account of every single fact and only fact of one’s life, which is of course not possible. The logic here is same as how newspapers can be “conservative” or “liberal.” Since a record of all facts is impossible, some details are intentionally or unintentionally left out, which can create a great difference. In a way, the statement that “the text produces the life” is true since the writing of an autobiography gives the writer a chance to modify his life to a one closer to what he would like to have lived.


Note: this is a great topic. I sometimes wonder if my life (literally) is a Truman Show, and I know someone who has gone to a degree of madness in that thought.