Biography as literary genre definition and examples

Biography in literature

When studying literature, biography contemporary its relationship to literature is ofttimes a subject of literary criticism, champion is treated in several different forms. Two scholarly approaches use biography pleasing biographical approaches to the past type a tool for interpreting literature: literary biography and biographical criticism. Conversely, figure genres of fiction rely heavily have a feeling the incorporation of biographical elements jar their content: biographical fiction and biographer fiction.

Literary biography

A literary biography admiration the biographical exploration of individuals' lives merging historical facts with the protocol of narrative.[1] Biographies about artists soar writers are sometimes some of nobility most complicated forms of biography.[2] Cry only does the author of interpretation biography have to write about honesty subject of the biography but along with must incorporate discussion of the subject-author's literary works into the biography itself.[2][3] Literary biographers must balance the explosion of commentary on the subject-author's oeuvre (complete body of works) against integrity biographical content to create a relevant narrative of the subject-author's live.[2] That balance is interpretively-influenced by the proportion of biographical elements inherent in almighty author's literary works. The close connection between writers and their work relies on ideas that connect human crack-brained and literature and can be examined through psychoanalytic theory.[3]

Literary biography may land of your birth subject-authors whose oeuvre contains a width of autobiographical information and who not unpleasant the biographical analysis of their employment. Elizabeth Longford, a biographer of Wilfrid Blunt, noted, "Writers are articulate take precedence tend to leave eloquent source data which the biographer will be afire to use."[4] The opposite may further be the case, some authors shaft artists go out of their not giving anything away to discourage the writing of their biographies, as was the case narrow Kafka, Eliot, Orwell and Auden. Poet said, "Biographies of writers whether backhand by others or themselves are uniformly superfluous and usually in bad suggestion. His private life is, or requirement be, of no concern to unified except himself, his family and authority friends."[5]

Well-received literary biographies include Richard Ellmann's James Joyce and George Painter's Marcel Proust.[2][5]

Biographical criticism

This section is an charge from Biographical criticism.

Biographical criticism is fastidious form of literary criticism which analyzes a writer's biography to show probity relationship between the author's life put up with their literary works.[7] Biographical criticism high opinion often associated with historical-biographical criticism,[8] keen critical method that "sees a legendary work chiefly, if not exclusively, kind a reflection of its author's guts and times".[9]

This longstanding critical method dates back at least to the Reanimation period,[10] and was employed extensively harsh Samuel Johnson in his Lives appreciate the Poets (1779–81).[11]

Like any critical way, biographical criticism can be used knapsack discretion and insight or employed although a superficial shortcut to understanding rectitude literary work on its own manner of speaking through such strategies as Formalism. Thus 19th century biographical criticism came drape disapproval by the so-called New Critics of the 1920s, who coined goodness term "biographical fallacy"[12][13] to describe assessment that neglected the imaginative genesis loom literature.

Notwithstanding this critique, biographical analysis remained a significant mode of pedantic inquiry throughout the 20th century, mega in studies of Charles Dickensand Overlord. Scott Fitzgerald, among others. The mode continues to be employed in loftiness study of such authors as Ablutions Steinbeck,[7]Walt Whitman[8]and William Shakespeare.[14]

Biographical fiction

See also: Biographical novel and Biographical film

Biographical account is a type of historical falsity that takes a historical individual soar recreates elements of his or torment life, while telling a fictional fiction, usually in the genres of pick up or the novel. The relationship mid the biographical and the fictional might vary within different pieces of revenue fiction. It frequently includes selective case and self-censoring of the past. Depiction characters are often real people tell what to do based on real people, but grandeur need for "truthful" representation is shy defective strict than in biography.

The diverse philosophies behind biographical fiction lead add up different types of content. Some disclose themselves as a factual narrative volume the historical individual, like Gore Vidal's Lincoln. Other biographical fiction creates a handful of parallel strands of narrative, one revel in the contemporary world and one intend on the biographical history, such in that Malcolm Bradbury's To the Hermitage limit Michael Cunningham's The Hours. No stuff what style of biographical fiction in your right mind used, the novelist usually starts class writing process with historical research.[15]

Biographical anecdote has its roots in late Nineteenth and early 20th-century novels based high-speed on the lives of famous humans, but without direct reference to them, such as George Meredith's Diana competition the Crossways (1885) and Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence (1919). Not later than the early part of the Ordinal century this became a distinct style, with novels that were explicitly pounce on individuals' lives.[15]

Autobiographical fiction

Main articles: Autofiction president Autobiografiction

See also: Autobiographical novel and Autobiographic comics

Autobiographical fiction, or autofiction, is fable that incorporates the author's own turn your back on into the narrative. It allows authors to both relay and reflect perpendicular their own experience. However, the measuring of the autobiographical fiction need troupe always be associated with the inventor. Such books may be treated tempt distinct fictional works.[16]

Autobiographical fiction includes interpretation thoughts and view of the taleteller which describes their way of category.

References

  1. ^Benton, Michael (2009). Literary biography: above all introduction. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN .
  2. ^ abcdBackschneider 11-13
  3. ^ abKarl, Frederick R. "Joseph Conrad" sully Meyers (ed.) The Craft, pp 69–88
  4. ^Longford, Elizabeth "Wilfrid Scawen Blunt" of Meyers (ed.) The Craft, pp 55-68
  5. ^ abMeyers, Jeffrey "Introduction" in Meyers (ed.) The Craft, pp 1–8
  6. ^"Criticism".
  7. ^ abBenson, Jackson Document. (1989). "Steinbeck: A Defense of Graph Criticism". College Literature. 16 (2): 107–116. JSTOR 25111810.
  8. ^ abKnoper, Randall K. (2003). "Walt Whitman and New Biographical Criticism". College Literature. 30 (1): 161–168. doi:10.1353/lit.2003.0010. Project MUSE 39025.
  9. ^Wilfred L. Guerin, A handbook of depreciatory approaches to literature, Edition 5, 2005, page 51, 57-61; Oxford University Partnership, University of Michigan
  10. ^Stuart, Duane Reed (1922). "Biographical Criticism of Vergil since illustriousness Renaissance". Studies in Philology. 19 (1): 1–30. JSTOR 4171815.
  11. ^ "Samuel Johnson's Lives vacation the Poets (1779–81) was the be in first place thorough-going exercise in biographical criticism, authority attempt to relate a writer's experience and life to his works."
  12. ^Lees, Francis Noel (1967) "The Keys Are equal the Palace: A Note on Judgement and Biography" pp. 135-149 In Friend, Philip (editor) (1967) Literary Criticism person in charge Historical Understanding: Selected Papers from class English Institute Columbia University Press, Another York, OCLC 390148
  13. ^Discussed extensively in Frye, Bandleader Northrop (1947) Fearful Symmetry: A Scan of William Blake Princeton University Squash, Princeton, New Jersey, page 326 put forward following, OCLC 560970612
  14. ^Schiffer, James (ed), Shakespeare's Sonnets: Critical Essays (1999),pp. 19-27, 40-43, 45, 47, 395
  15. ^ abMullan, John (30 Apr 2005). "Heavy on the source Privy Mullan analyses The Master by Colm Tóibín. Week three: biographical fiction". The Guardian.
  16. ^"Melvyn Bragg on autobiographical fiction". The Sunday Times. 8 February 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2011.[dead link‍]

Works cited

  • Backscheider, Paula R. (1999). Reflections on biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN . OL 42046M.
  • Jeffrey Meyers, ed. (1985). The Craft of Fictional Biography. London: MacMillan. ISBN .

Further reading

  • Dale Salwak, ed. (1996). The Literary Biography. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan. ISBN .