The word 'autobiography' is made up of three distinct parts, each
with its own meaning: auto meaning '1', bio meaning 'life' and 'graphy' meaning 'writing'.  Autobiography is therefore generally understood as the written account of an individual's life. As such, it offers a self-representation: a representation of a particular identity created by the self who is thus represented. The writer looks back (usually) on the past and narrates that past from the standpoint of the present. 

The personal narratives we tell are never simply mirror reflections of a lived reality, but are mediated by the need to represent the self as possessing a sense of identity and control.  Autobiographical representation is one of the ways in which we shape our experiences into some form of meaning and construct particular identities for ourselves.

(Studying Culture pp. 51-52)

2. Autobiography as a Teleological Sequence

A teleology is any philosophical account that holds that final causes exist in nature, meaning that — analogous to purpose found in human actions — nature inherently tends toward definite ends Retrospective teleology, I have argued, is a central feature of the autobiographical process. Yet it is difficult, if not impossible, to grasp this kind of teleology without taking into account the fusion of the various temporal orders in which the narrative event takes place. That is to say, narrative is a way of ordering actions and events in a linear temporal succession. (Jens Brockmeier, "From the end to the beginning" in Narrative and Identity: p.271)

3. Autobiography as a Life of Moral Purpose

With this in mind, part of what we wish to do is call attention to the fact that the narrative construction of identity not only has a psychological, social, and aesthetic dimension but an ethical one. ... it will inevitably be conditioned by some notion of the good life.(Mark Freeman and Jens Brockmeier, "Narrative integrity: Autobiographical identity and the meaning of the 'good life'" in Narrative and Identity: p.75)