Facts and Fiction: A Book of Storytelling

by Michael Holroyd

A captivating collection of pieces about the art of narration by Britain's finest biographer, Michael Holroyd In this collection of pieces, Michael Holroyd reflects on the eccentricities of the art of writing about others. With characteristic playfulness and guilefulness, he considers the ways in which lives can be written about (and painted), with all the subtle differences of design and intention that this entails. From Kipling to forgetfulness, Princess Diana's butler Paul Burrell to fellow biographers like Richard Holmes and the fathers of British biography, Boswell and Johnson, Holroyd tackles a rich and vibrant array of topics. He discusses his life at the mercy of subjects who have led him all over the world - and often into other people's families uninvited. With wit, warmth and humour, he reflects on the unlikely ways he arrives at his subjects, and how the process of building their narratives is often a disturbing experience: so consuming that, when completed, he feels as if he has had a holiday from himself. Featuring writing originally published in the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian, the Telegraph and elsewhere, Facts and Fiction provides unique insight into the mind of a master.

224 pages, Hardcover

Published June 14, 2018

About the author

Michael Holroyd is the author of acclaimed biographies of George Bernard Shaw, the painter Augustus John, Lytton Strachey, and Ellen Terry and Henry Irving, as well as two memoirs, Basil Street Blues and Mosaic. Knighted for his services to literature, he is the president emeritus of the Royal Society of Literature and the only nonfiction writer to have been awarded the David Cohen British Prize for Literature. His previous book, A Strange Eventful History, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography in 2009. He lives in London with his wife, the novelist Margaret Drabble.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/michae...

Reviews

[Nikki Copleston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this because I'd enjoyed his Basil Street memoir, and I enjoy his writing. This is a collection of essays and reviews, and full of fascinating insights. It's a little stuffy in tone, here and there, but quite enjoyable even so.

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had pretty much forgotten why I had this book on my TBR list but I needed a few more books to read and this was available. Turns out, I was fooled by the subtitle “A book of Storytelling” because this is really a book about biographies and people.

Facts and Fiction is a collection of essays my Michael Holroyd, exploring his process of writing biographies, short essays on specific people and books, and one play that is an inventive biography about The Whispering Gallery, a literary hoax that has since disappeared into obscurity.

What I took away from these essays – apart from the fact that I should try E Nesbit’s books “The Story of the Treasure Seekers” and “The Wouldbegoods” (because apparently they are her “most brilliant fiction”) – is that some things are better read about than read. Holroyd has an essay dedicated to Violet Trefusis and while she had an interesting life, reading about her books made me realise I probably wouldn’t be able to understand or appreciate her books.

Holroyd also mentions “literary biographies”, something that strikes me with fear because I prefer to know what is fact and what is inferred in my biography. My fear was confirmed in Part 3, which was a “play” about how The Whispering Gallery came to be and its famous trial. The Whispering Gallery, from what I understand, was a literary hoax that purported to be by a nobleman who met many key historical figures of that time. However, I also got the sense it was an inventive biography by someone who wanted to tell the essence of truth about people, rather than stick to the facts. While the play format was quite readable, the part of me that wants facts just felt uncomfortable because I didn’t know what was fact and what was fiction – or if any was fiction – in the play. It doesn’t help that a simple search on google doesn’t tell me much about The Whispering Gallery, so I had no way to check on what was mentioned. It was a fairly unsettling experience for me, but I suppose that may be the aim of it.

All in all, this was an interesting book. It reminds me a bit of A Brief History of Biographies but the essay-ish nature of this book makes the lack of linear argument more acceptable. I do feel like I understand the mind of a biographer better after reading this, but I wouldn’t say that my TBR list has been greatly expanded.

P.s. this is somewhere between a 3 and 4 star read for me, but I'm rounding it up to 4

This review was first posted at Eustea Reads

[Kellean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing style right up my alley with some interesting essays.