Popular Culture Review Vol. 11, No. 1, February 2000 | Page 59

Forgive Us Our Sins:
The Autobiography of Expiation
A fascinating phenomenon of contemporary popular culture involves the
autobiographical impulse of various public figures to atone in print for their
mistakes, misdeeds, and their fall from grace. The guiding force behind this
autobiography of expiation is the attempt at rebuilding a tattered or soiled public
image. This autobiographical repentance hinges on a reconstruction of reality aimed
at persuading a skeptical public that the autobiographers are more the victims