Reflections on Biography by Paula R. Backscheider

by Paula R. Backscheider

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 biography-lifelong or occasional, critical or casual-it 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. The opening chapters are on the four decisions most influential in shaping the biography and the reader's experience. The first concerns the biographer's voice, because this is the invisible bridge between biographer and reader and between reader and subject; examination of this also shows how things are hidden from the ordinary reader of biography. The other decisions are about choosing the subject; evidence; and theories of personality. The remaining chapters cover multiple forms of biography, consider additional choices in the differing contexts of work by feminist, British professional, and African-American biographers, and look towards the form's future directions and challenges.

Genres: Biography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jessica Mudditt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about biography in this book, and especially about the history of biography as a genre. I'd never heard of the life arc theory before (or the subsequent challenges to the notion that we peak in our powers at around 40 and then enter a gradual but steady decline).
It also gave me about ten new biographies to read - I kept buying books on Kindle as I was reading it! Sadly some of the biographies she references are no longer available to purchase - an updated version of this book would be great to have, as it was published in 2001.

[Katharine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and full of biographers' war stories. The chapters on the voice of the biographer and the experience of living with the subject I found fascinating; the extended ruminations on the application of psychological models and "life shapes" to subjects' lives, not so much. Like many biographies, it tries to gather & deploy a lot of information, and doesn't always succeed. Still, I'd look up Backscheider's Defoe biography based on this.