Abstract: Conversion （turning point）narratives, very common in the west, appeared first in Augustine’s Confessions which represents western religious autobiography. With the secularization of the autobiography, conversion narrative has developed and changed, giving birth to some basic patterns. The specific characters of the genre vary with its own cultural tradition. Through conversion narrative, the autobiographers may define their identities, reveal the theme and devise the plot of their writings; however, these functions are weakened gradually in the modern autobiographies. Is conversion narrative a self-discovery or self-construction? We may find different answers. With different narrative forms, conversion narrative also appeared in Chinese ancient autobiographies represented by Sima Qian and in Chinese modern autobiographies which are affected deeply by the western form.

Key words: conversion (turning point) narrative; autobiography; identity; construction; fiction; Christianity  

Cao Lei, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Nanjing Xiaozhuang University. Her main research interest is life writing study.