A Comparative Study of Gandhi and Nehru and in their Autobiographies

Abstract

Autobiography is usually defined as a retrospective narrative written about one’s life, in the first person and in prose. Such writing has appeared with increasing frequency in Western Literature since the beginning of nineteenth century but after World War II, it gained considerable significance. Now autobiographies all over the world and especially in India are extensively read and enjoyed, but paradoxically enough, they have received very scant critical attention, let alone comparative treatment. The comparative approach to literature enables us to widen our critical horizon and develop the concept of prevalent literary tendencies in the world as well as the different regions of a nation. The comparative study of authors belonging to the different nations should be preceded by that of authors belonging to the same country, preferably coming from two different parts of the country belonging to two different fields and professions. It is needless to say, that the comparative study aims at establishing the universality and oneness of human experience through the depiction of diverse peculiarities of it