British Biography: A ReaderiUniverse, 2005 M07 14 - 320 páginas Biography as a literary genre is largely the product of the eighteenth century and of one seminal work, James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson (1791). Boswell's innovations revolutionized the genre and made it the target of suppression and censorship. He sought not only to memorialize a great man but also to reveal his flaws. Boswell reported long stretches of Johnson's conversation, noted his mannerisms, and in general gave an intimate picture such as no biography had ever before dared to attempt. After Boswell, there was a retreat from his bolder innovations, which amounted to self-censorship on the biographer's part. When Thomas Carlyle's biographer, James Anthony Froude, braved this trend against truth and allowed his subject's dark side to show, he was vilified in the press. The tensions between discretion and candor have endured in British biography since Froude, a point Carl Rollyson makes in the reviews of contemporary British biographers he includes in British Biography, which also contains Johnson's full-length biography of Richard Savage, excerpts from Boswell's Life of Johnson as well selections from and commentaries on Southey's biography of Nelson, Mrs. Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bront, and the revolutionary work of Froude and Strachey. |
Dentro del libro
Resultados 1-5 de 50
... tobe fixed, that the day mightnot run out in the idleness of suspense; andall the plans and enterprises of DeWit arenowof less importance to theworld than thatpart ofhis personal character which represents him as careful of his health ...
... tobe Savage,and readers must crossthe divide of personality, place, and position, that separates them from his life. ♢ ♢ ♢ [1] Ithas been observedinall ages that the advantages ofnature orof fortune have contributed very littleto the ...
... tobe let,and in others strongtouches of thatardentimagination which painted the solemn scenes ofThe Wanderer. [14] While he was thus cultivating his genius, his father, the Earl Rivers, was seized witha distemper, which inashort time ...
... tobe remembered for his virtues, which are not often tobe found in the world,and perhaps less oftenin his profession thanin others.To be humane,generous, and candid isa very high degree ofmerit in any case,but those qualities deserve ...
... tobe ruffled, andan imagination not tobe suppressed. [52] During a considerable partofthe time in whichhewas employed upon this performance he was without lodging, and often without meat; nor hadheany other conveniences for study than ...
Contenido
READINGS THE RAMBLER NO 60 JOHNSONS LIFE OF SAVAGE 1744 | |
EXCEPT FROM ROBERT SOUTHEYS LIFE OF NELSON | |
EXCERPTS FROM ELIZABETH GASKELLS LIFEOF | |
EXCERPT FROM FROUDES LIFE OF CARLYLE | |
LYTTON STRACHEY EMINENT VICTORIANS 1918 | |
REVIEWS | |
JOHN FOWLES | |