"Roger Porter both shows and tells us much about the act of autobiography in his excellent Self-Same Songs. Illuminating studies of the performances are wonderfully balanced and sharpened by reflections on Porter's own rich, diverse, and always astonishing life. A critical and imaginative triumph."—James Olney, author of Memory and Narrative: The Weave of Life-Writing "Roger Porter reads and writes autobiography with subtlety and passion. These adventurous essays offer a splendid introduction to the riches of the form."—John Eakin, author of How Our Lives Become Stories: Making Selves “An aesthetic book, an autobiography formed as much by others’ autobiographies as by one’s own life, raw life transformed through autobiographical literature.”—Regenia Gagnier, Biography "Self-Same Songs offers engaging, subtle, accessible, and insightful readings of an eclectic range of autobiographical texts. And Roger Porter's lively interweaving of personal narrative with each chapter extends critical inquiry into a dialogic conversation that is provocative for the reader's own self-reflection."—Julia Watson, coauthor of Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives