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The Impossible Craft : Literary Biography

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Title: The Impossible Craft : Literary Biography
Description: In The Impossible Craft, Scott Donaldson explores the rocky territory of literary biography, the most difficult that biographers try to navigate. Writers are accustomed to controlling the narrative, and notoriously opposed to allowing intruders on their turf. They make bonfires of their papers, encourage others to destroy correspondence, write their own autobiographies, and appoint family or friends to protect their reputations as official biographers. Thomas Hardy went so far as to compose his own life story to be published after his death, while falsely assigning authorship to his widow. After a brief background sketch of the history of biography from Greco-Roman times to the present, Donaldson recounts his experiences in writing biographies of a broad range of twentieth-century American writers: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Cheever, Archibald MacLeish, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Winfield Townley Scott, and Charlie Fenton. Donaldson provides readers with a highly readable insiders'introduction to literary biography. He suggests how to conduct interviews, and what not to do during the process. He offers sound advice about how closely biographers should identify with their subjects. He examines the ethical obligations of the biographer, who must aim for the truth without unduly or unnecessarily causing discomfort or worse to survivors. He shows us why and how misinformation comes into existence and tends to persist over time. He describes “the mythical ideal biographer,” an imaginary creature of universal intelligence and myriad talents beyond the reach of any single human being. And he suggests how its very impossibility makes the goal of writing a biography that captures the personality of an author a challenge well worth pursuing.
Authors: Scott Donaldson
Resource Type: eBook.
Subjects: Biographers, Biography, Authors, American--Biography--History and criticism--Theory, etc, Biography as a literary form, Authors--Biography--Authorship
Categories: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Publishers & Publishing Industry, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Political, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Presidents & Heads of State, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Reference, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Rich & Famous, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Royalty, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Writing / Authorship, LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General
Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
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Header DbId: nlebk
DbLabel: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
An: 1029553
RelevancyScore: 1064
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: eBook
PubTypeId: ebook
PreciseRelevancyScore: 1063.91076660156
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  Data: The Impossible Craft : Literary Biography
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  Data: In The Impossible Craft, Scott Donaldson explores the rocky territory of literary biography, the most difficult that biographers try to navigate. Writers are accustomed to controlling the narrative, and notoriously opposed to allowing intruders on their turf. They make bonfires of their papers, encourage others to destroy correspondence, write their own autobiographies, and appoint family or friends to protect their reputations as official biographers. Thomas Hardy went so far as to compose his own life story to be published after his death, while falsely assigning authorship to his widow. After a brief background sketch of the history of biography from Greco-Roman times to the present, Donaldson recounts his experiences in writing biographies of a broad range of twentieth-century American writers: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Cheever, Archibald MacLeish, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Winfield Townley Scott, and Charlie Fenton. Donaldson provides readers with a highly readable insiders'introduction to literary biography. He suggests how to conduct interviews, and what not to do during the process. He offers sound advice about how closely biographers should identify with their subjects. He examines the ethical obligations of the biographer, who must aim for the truth without unduly or unnecessarily causing discomfort or worse to survivors. He shows us why and how misinformation comes into existence and tends to persist over time. He describes “the mythical ideal biographer,” an imaginary creature of universal intelligence and myriad talents beyond the reach of any single human being. And he suggests how its very impossibility makes the goal of writing a biography that captures the personality of an author a challenge well worth pursuing.
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
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      – Code: 920
        Scheme: ddc
        Type: prePub
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Biographers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Biography
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Authors, American--Biography--History and criticism--Theory, etc
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Biography as a literary form
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Authors--Biography--Authorship
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: The Impossible Craft : Literary Biography
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            NameFull: Scott Donaldson
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            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2015
            – D: 22
              M: 07
              Type: profile
              Y: 2015
          Identifiers:
            – Type: isbn-print
              Value: 9780271065274
            – Type: isbn-print
              Value: 9780271065281
            – Type: isbn-electronic
              Value: 9780271067049
            – Type: isbn-electronic
              Value: 9780271067056
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: The Impossible Craft : Literary Biography
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