自我書寫與其他文學類型的重要區別之一在於他的真實性。不論是日記或是回憶錄之作者皆需描述真實所發生之事件，這是自我書寫作者與讀者的契約之一。然而要忠實坦承過去的自我並非只是看似簡易、機械式的描述或複誦。事實上要達到真實的目的並非僅僅依賴作者的意願，其中還牽涉到其他條件。自我書寫看似完全直接與透明的清晰，有時反而更需要讀者推敲其字裡行間之意。本文的主旨便在於以《阿道夫》為例，探索自我書寫的這個矛盾處──清晰的隱晦。
論文首先在於分析指出本書之敘述者──阿道夫的陳（直）述中所包藏的各種形式的隱言。其中部分是有意識的行為，部分則來自無法掌控的無意識。接著要用幾個不同觀點，其中包括羞怯，真誠與憂鬱來分析阿道夫的回憶中之所以交雜著各式隱言的背後原因。論文將指出這些因素如何讓阿道夫的自白呈現掩蓋、晦暗、矛盾與模糊之處。此外也希望藉此分析指出這個自我書寫的矛盾或許正是一個憂鬱者的坦白方式與其真理的特殊性。

Self-writing is different from the other literary genres especially by it’s fidelity to the real. Either diary or memory has to describe the events really happened. This is a specific contract between the author of self-writing and his reader. However, to be real is not so easy to realize. To describe self is not to narrate or repeat mechanically one’s passed life. In fact, saying the real, it depends not only on author’s “will”, but also on others conditions. Self-writing could, out of control of his author, not always be true or sincere. If, in appearance, the meaning of self-writing is clear by the direct tone and by author’s sincerity, sometimes, the readers need to pay more attention to the signification hided between the lines. This study aims to reveal this paradox—the obscurity of the transparence, in self-writing by taking Adolphe as example.
This paper begin by analyzing and presenting the different forms of unsaid in the frankly narration of Adolphe. Some unsaid are done consciously, some unconsciously. Then, I try to study the reasons which generate the paradox of this self-writing according to different points of view, as timidity, sincerity and melancholy, and to explain how these factors make the confession of Adolphe full of hiding, obscurity, contradiction and vagueness in meaning. Besides, this paradox in self-writing represents just the special way for a melancholic to confess and the particularity of his truth.