Reflections on biography

Bibliographic Information

Reflections on biography

Paula R. Backscheider

Oxford University Press, 1999

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [253]-279) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Reflections on Biography, written by the author of an award-winning life of Daniel Defoe, is an invitation to turn 'biography' over in the mind as we turn an artefact in our hands. Intended for all readers of biographyDSlifelong or occasional, critical or casualDSit examines the subject from many angles, and gives a tour of the decisions biographers make and the implications of those choices. Its aim is to increase the pleasure of reading biographies, to add new, enjoyable dimensions even as it increases readers' insights into the art of writing them. Among the biographies given special attention are prize-winning lives of writers, mathematical geniuses, intellectual women, the Roosevelts, and unusual marriage partners. The book is full of lively comparisons, for instance, of Keats by Walter Jackson Bate, Andrew Motion, and others, and of a century of biographies of Edith Wharton.

Table of Contents

  • List of Illustrations
  • Introduction
  • The Basics
  • The voice of the Biographer
  • Living with the Subject
  • Evidence: 'Bare Patches and Profusions'
  • Perspective, Personality, and Life Shapes
  • Expansions
  • Feminist Pressures
  • Pushing the Envelope
  • British Professionals and African-American Academics
  • Conclusion
  • Bibliography: Biography
  • Theory
  • General
  • Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

  • NCID
    BA49199623
  • ISBN
    • 019818641X
  • LCCN
    99034521
  • Country Code
    us
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    New York
  • Pages/Volumes
    xxii, 289 p.
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
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