Biography as High Adventure - Life-writers Speak on Their Art (Paperback)

The art of biography discussed by 10 acclaimed biographers. All the writers included here represent a school known as "pure biography," which presents the subject's life as a narrative adventure, a "novel of facts" rather than as a critical commentary or a psychoanalytical investigation. Andre Maurois presents some basic roles: choose a well-known person to write about, go in chronological order, choose the essential details, practice detachment towards your subject. Leon Edel calls for shorter biographies that uncover the subject's "hidden personal myth." Frank E. Vandiver sees biography as an "agent of humanism," embedded in the author's empathy for his subject. According to Mark Schorer, the biographer must be a drudge, a critic, and an artist. Barbara Tuchman, in an especially feisty essay, sees biography as a doorway to history, and provides a list of great biographies in the English language. Other contributions by Catherine Bowen, Justin Kaplan, Paul Murray Kendall, Paul Mariani, and the editor confirm the suspicion that biographers brandish all the literary skills of novelists and investigative journalists, and that they long for more critical recognition. Valuable for anyone planning to write a biography. Otherwise, of interest only to academics - and repentant critics. (Kirkus Reviews)

This volume is concerned exclusively with biography as a narrative art, comprising essays by ten people who have actually practiced the form.

General

Imprint:	University of Massachusetts Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	April 1986
First published:	June 1986
Editors:	Stephen B. Oates
Authors:	Stephen B. Oates
Dimensions:	229 x 140 x 13mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	200
ISBN-13:	978-0-87023-514-6
Categories:	Books Promotions
LSN:	0-87023-514-1
Barcode:	9780870235146

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