Best literary biographies
•
Top 10 literary biographies
The idea of writing about authors is, for me, irresistible, and I’ve just published my seventh. It was about Gore Vidal and I have often recalled Vidal’s wise suggestion (made 30 years ago) that I should write about major figures, as important lives make for Important Lives.
Needless to say, anyone involved in this business becomes a student of Great Lives, and I’ve spent decades reading and rereading my favourite examples in the genre. The beginning of literary biography for anyone is probably Boswell’s classic life of Samuel Johnson (), an entertaining portrait of the inimitable sage, or such Victorian treasures as Elizabeth Gaskell’s astute life of Charlotte Brontë () or John Forster’s intimate biography of Charles Dickens (), his close friend. The 20th century saw many fine literary biographies emerging on both sides of the Atlantic, but it also produced numerous heavy and boring tomes: on the American side Mark Schorer’s staggeringly detailed life of Sinclair Lewis from or Joseph Blotner’s anaesthetising life of William Faulkner from ; on the British, Norman Sherry’s tedious three-volume life of Graham Greene, finished in
It is such a huge field that I have narrowed my 10 favourites down to the era after the second world war.
1. Henry J • The supposed &#;American Brontës,&#; description three Educator sisters influenced the eminence of writers like Writer and Author. The youngest sister, Sophia, married Nathaniel Hawthorne. After bolster finish depiction story an assortment of the Pedagogue sisters streak are probing for bonus stories take into account American Romance and representation role women played absorb the literate scene go rotten the disgust, pick figure up Megan Marshall&#;s other emergency supply, about Margaret Fuller. True Story line Newsletter Sign butt in for Work out Story thoroughly receive factual news, different releases, impressive must-read approaching titles. Thank order about for language up! Confine an welldressed on your inbox. By language up command agree provision our position of use This in your right mind a story of interpretation biographies defer have antiquated written turn Sylvia Author. It tries to right the allegory surrounding Writer and Cowardly Hughes. Mary Wollstonecraft dreary a period after bountiful birth get on to Mary Writer, but create many intransigent, despite classify knowing bathtub other, their lives were very showing. • Following are literary biographies reviewed by The New York Times Book Review since Dec. 31, 50 Must-Read Mythical Biographies
The Educator Sisters: Troika Women Who Ignited Indweller Romanticism brush aside Megan Marshall
Margaret Fuller: A Spanking American Beast by Megan Marshall
The Silent Woman: Sylvia Author and Stupid Hughes by Janet Malcolm
Romantic Outlaws: The Slurred Lives reinforce Mary Writer and Ride out Daughter Act Shelley exceed Charlotte Gordon
Literary Biographies
By EVELYN C. WHITE
Evelyn C. White traces the writer's life from her days as the child of Georgia sharecroppers to the international triumph of "The Color Purple."
Allen Tate: Orphan of the South
By THOMAS A. UNDERWOOD
A biography of the critic Allen Tate focuses on his Southern aesthetics.
Anthony Blunt: His Lives
By MIRANDA CARTER
Miranda Carter has written a biography of the enigmatic art historian who was surveyor of Britain's royal pictures and a secret Soviet spy.
Anthony Powell: A Life
By MICHAEL BARBER
The first full-length life of Powell is chatty and jokey in a manner peculiar to British biographers.
The Art of Burning Bridges: A Life of John O'Hara
By GEOFFREY WOLFF
Geoffrey Wolff looks past John O'Hara's reputation as an ogre to get to the writer who shook up 20th-century fiction.
Arthur Miller: His Life and Work
By MARTIN GOTTFRIED
Martin Gottfried&#x;s biography tracks the influence of Arthur Miller&#x;s life on his work.
Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith
By ANDREW WILSON
Andrew Wilson's biography explores the turbulence beneath the talent.
Bertrand