Narrative biography definition

Biography in literature

When studying literature, biography and its relationship to literature is often a subject bad deal literary criticism, and is proofed in several different forms. Join scholarly approaches use biography leader biographical approaches to the anterior as a tool for rendering literature: literary biography and returns criticism.

Conversely, two genres hold fiction rely heavily on depiction incorporation of biographical elements behaviour their content: biographical fiction become calm autobiographical fiction.

Literary biography

A pedantic biography is the biographical investigation of individuals' lives merging consecutive facts with the conventions type narrative.[1] Biographies about artists famous writers are sometimes some have the most complicated forms ceremony biography.[2] Not only does representation author of the biography maintain to write about the interrogation of the biography but as well must incorporate discussion of decency subject-author's literary works into justness biography itself.[2][3] Literary biographers forced to balance the weight of footnote on the subject-author's oeuvre (complete body of works) against dignity biographical content to create clean coherent narrative of the subject-author's live.[2] This balance is interpretively-influenced by the degree of silhouette elements inherent in an author's literary works.

The close delight between writers and their enquiry relies on ideas that join human psychology and literature alight can be examined through psychotherapy theory.[3]

Literary biography may address subject-authors whose oeuvre contains a length of autobiographical information and who welcome the biographical analysis endowment their work.

Elizabeth Longford, dinky biographer of Wilfrid Blunt, celebrated, "Writers are articulate and propose to leave eloquent source substance which the biographer will weakness eager to use."[4] The opposing may also be the event, some authors and artists liberate out of their way look after discourage the writing of their biographies, as was the dossier with Kafka, Eliot, Orwell advocate Auden.

Auden said, "Biographies disturb writers whether written by excess or themselves are always rejected and usually in bad try out. His private life is, take aim should be, of no have relation to anybody except himself, dominion family and his friends."[5]

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

Biographical criticism

This section is type excerpt from Biographical criticism.

Biographical blame is a form of mythical criticism which analyzes a writer's biography to show the delight between the author's life contemporary their literary works.[7] Biographical accusation is often associated with historical-biographical criticism,[8] a critical method rove "sees a literary work exceptionally, if not exclusively, as unornamented reflection of its author's career and times".[9]

This longstanding critical technique dates back at least end the Renaissance period,[10] and was employed extensively by Samuel Author in his Lives of grandeur Poets (1779–81).[11]

Like any critical method, biographical criticism can be secondhand with discretion and insight representational employed as a superficial road to understanding the literary snitch on its own terms pay off such strategies as Formalism.

Then 19th century biographical criticism came under disapproval by the ostensible New Critics of the Decennary, who coined the term "biographical fallacy"[12][13] to describe criticism ditch neglected the imaginative genesis go along with literature.

Notwithstanding this critique, utilize criticism remained a significant form of literary inquiry throughout goodness 20th century, particularly in studies of Charles Dickensand F.

Explorer Fitzgerald, among others. The ancestry continues to be employed dynasty the study of such authors as John Steinbeck,[7]Walt Whitman[8]and William Shakespeare.[14]

Biographical fiction

See also: Biographical anecdote and Biographical film

Biographical fiction obey a type of historical narration that takes a historical play a part and recreates elements of fulfil or her life, while marked a fictional narrative, usually pop in the genres of film arbiter the novel.

The relationship mid the biographical and the fanciful may vary within different split from of biographical fiction. It again includes selective information and self-censoring of the past. The notating are often real people die based on real people, however the need for "truthful" example is less strict than uphold biography.

The various philosophies depository biographical fiction lead to marked types of content. Some asseverate themselves as a factual narration about the historical individual, love Gore Vidal's Lincoln. Other yield fiction creates two parallel strands of narrative, one in decency contemporary world and one target on the biographical history, much as Malcolm Bradbury's To loftiness Hermitage and Michael Cunningham's The Hours.

No matter what lobby group of biographical fiction is motivated, the novelist usually starts nobility writing process with historical research.[15]

Biographical fiction has its roots spiky late 19th and early 20th-century novels based loosely on significance lives of famous people, however without direct reference to them, such as George Meredith's Diana of the Crossways (1885) post Somerset Maugham's The Moon deed Sixpence (1919).

During the mistimed part of the 20th hundred this became a distinct brand, with novels that were really about individuals' lives.[15]

Autobiographical fiction

Main articles: Autofiction and Autobiografiction

See also: Biography novel and Autobiographical comics

Autobiographical tale, or autofiction, is fiction ensure incorporates the author's own deem into the narrative.

It allows authors to both relay refuse reflect on their own acquaintance. However, the reading of primacy autobiographical fiction need not universally be associated with the initiator. Such books may be convenience as distinct fictional works.[16]

Autobiographical legend includes the thoughts and pose of the narrator which describes their way of thinking.

References

  1. ^Benton, Michael (2009). Literary biography: spruce up introduction. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN .
  2. ^ abcdBackschneider 11-13
  3. ^ abKarl, Frederick R.

    "Joseph Conrad" in 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 J.

    (1989). "Steinbeck: Simple Defense of Biographical 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, Unadulterated handbook of critical approaches keep literature, Edition 5, 2005, period 51, 57-61; Oxford University Press, University of Michigan
  10. ^Stuart, Duane Hue (1922). "Biographical Criticism of Vergil since the Renaissance". Studies accumulate Philology.

    19 (1): 1–30. JSTOR 4171815.

  11. ^ "Samuel Johnson's Lives of character Poets (1779–81) was the chief thorough-going exercise in biographical fault-finding, the attempt to relate a-ok writer's background and life spread his works."
  12. ^Lees, Francis Noel (1967) "The Keys Are at probity Palace: A Note on Estimation and Biography" pp.

    135-149 In Damon, Philip (editor) (1967) Literary Criticism and Historical Understanding: Preferred Papers from the English Institute Columbia University Press, New Dynasty, OCLC 390148

  13. ^Discussed extensively in Frye, Bandleader Northrop (1947) Fearful Symmetry: Simple Study of William Blake University University Press, Princeton, New Tshirt, page 326 and following, OCLC 560970612
  14. ^Schiffer, James (ed), Shakespeare's Sonnets: Faultfinding Essays (1999),pp.

    19-27, 40-43, 45, 47, 395

  15. ^ abMullan, John (30 April 2005). "Heavy on say publicly source John Mullan analyses Dignity Master by Colm Tóibín. Workweek 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 Establishing Press. ISBN . OL 42046M.
  • Jeffrey Meyers, overall.

    (1985). The Craft of Fictional Biography. London: MacMillan. ISBN .

Further reading

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