Personal self-identification peculiarities: biogram “CHILDHOOD” A case study of the literary biography by W. Isaacson “Steve Jobs: A Biography”

Abstract

The subject of the paper is Steve Jobs’ personal self-identification in his childhood. Lexical units (words, phrases) are the descriptors of the text of the literary biography that outline the main sense of the biogram “CHILDHOOD”. Their semantic connections reflect the peculiarities of personal self-identification of Steve Jobs being a child. The project aims to analyze Steve Jobs’ memories, the case study being the biogram “CHILDHOOD” to find out how this stage of life has influenced the formation this outstanding figure’s personal self-identification. Each biogram is a certain model of events and, in this article, it is represented by three structural components: “Adoption”, “Silicon Valley” and “Schooling”. The matter of identity (self-identity) logically attracts the attention of modern scholars in accordance with the current trends of an anthropocentric approach to language. Therefore, the topicality of the paper is caused by the necessity to identify lexical descriptors of the “CHILDHOOD” biogram, the latter being aimed at realizing S. Jobs’ motive of self-knowledge. The general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, generalization), the contextual and interpretive method, and discourse analysis are used. The novelty of the research is determined both by the object of the study and the angle of the analysis, creating favorable grounds for further delineation of S. Jobs’ psychological image on the one hand, and his speech behavior on the other hand. As a result of the research, it has been established that in the text of the literary biography “Steve Jobs: A Biography”, the dominance of personal memories is usually combined with chronological sequence, and reasoning and teaching is connected with the thesaurus (thematic) way of presentation. Each biogram, as a certain segment on a straight life path, shows how a personality is formed and how he / she forms ideas about himself / herself as a self-identical, integral and unique individual. Via the “CHILDHOOD” biogram, we have managed to single out specific lexical descriptors, the synthesis of which outlines all the characteristics of Steve Jobs being a child as a developing personality: INDEPENDENCE, DETACHMENT (UNIQUENESS), and CREATIVITY AS A PROSPECTIVE VISION OF OWN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT. We consider a detailed study of the following biograms to be promising: “CAREER”, “PRIVATE LIFE”, “SEARCHING OF ONE’S OWN DESTINATION”, etc. Studied together (separately or generally) they will help outline Steve Jobs’ psychological image in the literary biography “Steve Jobs: A Biography”.