on genres and play

We are supposed to know where we are with biography and autobiography, they are the literary equivalents of the portrait and self-portrait. (Reflect a while on what the Post-Impressionists did with those.) One is the representation of someone else's life, and the other is the representation of your own. We shouldn't have to worry about form and experiment, and we can rest assured that the writer (or the painter) is sticking to the facts. We can feel safe with facts. You can introduce a fact to your mother and you can go out at night with a proven fact on your arm. There we are; a biography in one hand, and an autobiography in the other. A rose is a rose is a rose.

- Jeanette Winterson, "Testimony against Gertrude Stein" pg 49, Art Objects: Essays on Ecstasy and Effontery.