Towards a Poetics of Literary Biography [electronic resource] /
Benton, Michael.author.
Drawing upon a wide range of biographies of literary subjects, from Shakespeare and Wordsworth to William Golding and V.S. Naipaul, this book develops a poetics of literary biography based on the triangular relationships of lives, works and times and how narrative operates in holding them together. Biography is seen as a hybrid genre in which historical and fictional elements are imaginatively combined. It considers the roles of story-telling, factual data in the art of life-writing, and the literariness of its language. It includes a case study of the biography of Ellen Terry, discussion of the controversial relationship between a subject's life and works, 'biographical criticism' and, through the issue of gender, the social and cultural changes biographies reflect. It frames a poetics on the basis of its strategy and tactics and demonstrates how the literal truth of verifiable data and the poetic truth of what is narrated are interdependent.
Description based upon print version of record.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Drawing upon a wide range of biographies of literary subjects, from Shakespeare and Wordsworth to William Golding and V.S. Naipaul, this book develops a poetics of literary biography based on the triangular relationships of lives, works and times and how narrative operates in holding them together. Biography is seen as a hybrid genre in which historical and fictional elements are imaginatively combined. It considers the roles of story-telling, factual data in the art of life-writing, and the literariness of its language. It includes a case study of the biography of Ellen Terry, discussion of the controversial relationship between a subject's life and works, 'biographical criticism' and, through the issue of gender, the social and cultural changes biographies reflect. It frames a poetics on the basis of its strategy and tactics and demonstrates how the literal truth of verifiable data and the poetic truth of what is narrated are interdependent.
Machine generated contents note:  Preface --  Introduction: Lives Without Theory 1. Art & Artifice in Biography 2. Plotting A Life 3. The Author's Works (1): Signs of Life? 4. The Author's Works (2): Open to Criticism? 5. Their Times and Ours 6. Framing a Poetics of Literary Biography.
Fiction.
Literature—History and criticism.
Poetry.
Literature—Philosophy.
Culture—Study and teaching.
Fiction.
Literary History.
Poetry and Poetics.
Literary Theory.
Cultural Theory.