Vision and revision: "North Toward Home" and "Making It"

In this introduction, certain factors of the study of the autobiography have been considered briefly: definition, history, motive, and truth. This thesis will discuss North Toward Home by Willie Morris and Making It by Norman Podhoretz in the light of these factors and will show that each author has undergone a critical revision of his self-image. By recounting various events recorded in the autobiography of each man, the thesis will explore the childhood, education, and other influences which helped to shape his youthful vision, and v/ill trace the literary beginnings and full initiation into the power and politics of the harsh literary world of New York City. Attention v/ill also be given to the style and rhetorical technique of each autobiography in relationship to the tv personalities that emerge from the pages.