When studying

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

, biography and its relationship to literature is often a subject of

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

, and is treated in several different forms. Two scholarly approaches use

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

or biographical approaches to the past as a tool for interpreting literature: literary biography and biographical criticism. Conversely, two genres of fiction rely heavily on the incorporation of biographical elements into their content: biographical fiction and autobiographical fiction.

Literary biography

A literary biography is the biographical exploration of individuals' lives merging historical facts with the conventions of narrative. Biographies about artists and writers are sometimes some of the most complicated forms of

. Not only does the author of the biography have to write about the subject of the biography but also must incorporate discussion of the subject-author's literary works into the biography itself.Karl, Frederick R. "Joseph Conrad" in Meyers (ed.) ''The Craft'', pp 69–88 Literary biographers must balance the weight of commentary on the subject-author's ''oeuvre'' (complete body of works) against the biographical content to create a coherent narrative of the subject-author's live. This balance is interpretively-influenced by the degree of biographical elements inherent in an author's literary works. The close relationship between writers and their work relies on ideas that connect human psychology and literature and can be examined through

psychoanalytic theory Psychoanalytic theory is the theory of the innate structure of the human soul and the dynamics of personality development relating to the practice of psychoanalysis, a method of research and for treating of Mental disorder, mental disorders (psych ...

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

Elizabeth Longford Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford, (''née'' Harman; 30 August 1906 – 23 October 2002), better known as Elizabeth Longford, was an English historian. She was a member of the Royal Society of Literature and was on the board of trustees ...

, a biographer of Wilfrid Blunt, noted, "Writers are articulate and tend to leave eloquent source material which the biographer will be eager to use."Longford, Elizabeth "Wilfrid Scawen Blunt" of Meyers (ed.) ''The Craft'', pp 55-68 The opposite may also be the case, some authors and artists go out of their way to discourage the writing of their biographies, as was the case with Kafka, Eliot, Orwell and Auden. Auden said, "Biographies of writers whether written by others or themselves are always superfluous and usually in bad taste.... His private life is, or should be, of no concern to anybody except himself, his family and his friends."Meyers, Jeffrey "Introduction" in Meyers (ed.) ''The Craft'', pp 1–8 Well-received literary biographies include

Richard Ellmann Richard David Ellmann, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (March 15, 1918 – May 13, 1987) was an American Literary criticism, literary critic and biographer of the Irish writers James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and W. B. Yeats, William Butler Yeats. ...

's ''James Joyce'' and George Painter's ''Marcel Proust''.Backschneider 11-13

Biographical criticism

Biographical fiction

Biographical fiction is a type of

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...

that takes a historical individual and recreates elements of his or her life, while telling a fictional narrative, usually in the genres of film or the novel. The relationship between the biographical and the fictional may vary within different pieces of biographical fiction. It frequently includes selective information and self-censoring of the past. The characters are often real people or based on real people, but the need for "truthful" representation is less strict than in

. The various philosophies behind biographical fiction lead to different types of content. Some assert themselves as a factual narrative about the historical individual, like

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...

's '' Lincoln''. Other biographical fiction creates two parallel strands of narrative, one in the contemporary world and one focusing on the biographical history, such as

Malcolm Bradbury Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury, (7 September 1932 – 27 November 2000) was an English author and academic. Life Bradbury was born in Sheffield, the son of a railwayman. His family moved to London in 1935, but returned to Sheffield in 1941 wit ...

's '' To the Hermitage'' and Michael Cunningham's '' The Hours''. No matter what style of biographical fiction is used, the novelist usually starts the writing process with historical research. Biographical fiction has its roots in late 19th and early 20th-century novels based loosely on the lives of famous people, but without direct reference to them, such as George Meredith's '' Diana of the Crossways'' (1885) and Somerset Maugham's '' The Moon and Sixpence'' (1919). During the early part of the 20th century this became a distinct genre, with novels that were explicitly about individuals' lives.

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

frequently narrated the lives of fictional characters as if they were proper biographies. In '' Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote'', Borges explores the work of fictional

symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

french poet Pierre Menard. In '' A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz (1829–1874)'', Borges provides fictional information about events in the life of Sargento Cruz, character of '' Martín Fierro'' by José Hernandez.

Autobiographical fiction

Autobiographical fiction, or autofiction, is fiction that incorporates the author's own experience into the narrative. It allows authors to both relay and reflect on their own experience. However, the reading of the autobiographical fiction need not always be associated with the author. Such books may be treated as distinct fictional works. Autobiographical fiction includes the thoughts and view of the narrator which describes their way of thinking.

References

Works cited