Biography in theory / edited by Wilhelm Hemecker and Edward Saunders with the assistance of Gregor Schima.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Hemecker, Wilhelm, editor.

Saunders, Edward (Edward Isaac John), editor.

Schima, Gregor, editor.

Series:

De Gruyter Textbook

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Authors--Biography--History and criticism.

Authors.

History in literature.

Biography as a literary form.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (293 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin, [Germany] : De Gruyter, 2017.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This textbook is an anthology of significant theoretical discussions of biography as a genre and as a literary-historical practice. Covering the 18th to the 21st centuries, the reader includes programmatic texts by authors such as Herder, Carlyle, Dilthey, Proust, Freud, Kracauer, Woolf and Bourdieu. Each text is accompanied by a commentary placing its contribution in critical context. Ideal for use in undergraduate seminars, this reader may also be of interest for academic researchers in the areas of literary studies and history aiming to get an overview of historical questions in biographical theory. This revised and updated English language edition also includes new translations of texts by J. G. Herder and Stefan Zweig, as well as an introductory discussion on the possibility of a 'theory of biography'. Note: Due to copyright reasons, the chapter "Sade, Fourier, Loyola [Extract] (1971)" (pp. 175-177) by Roland Barthes could not be included in the ebook.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction Theory of Biography or Biography in Theory? / Saunders, Edward

The Rambler 60 (13 October 1750) / Johnson, Samuel

The Idler 24 (24 November 1759) / Johnson, Samuel

Samuel Johnson's Advice to Biographers / Dhúill, Caitríona Ní

Fifth Letter on the Furtherance of Humanity (1793) / Herder, Johann Gottfried

The Living Memory of Biography: Johann Gottfried Herder's 'Fifth Letter on the Furtherance of Humanity' / Heinrich, Tobias

On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History [Extract] (1840) / Carlyle, Thomas

World History as Heroic Biography: Thomas Carlyle's 'Great Men' / Dhúill, Caitríona Ní

Plan for the Continuation of the Formation of the Historical World in the Human Sciences [Extract] [1904-10] / Dilthey, Wilhelm

Between Art and Academia: Wilhelm Dilthey's Theory of Biography / Hemecker, Wilhelm

The Method of Sainte-Beuve [Extract] [1909] / Proust, Marcel

Against Biographical Interpretation: Marcel Proust's Attack on Sainte-Beuve / Saunders, Edward

Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood [Extract] (1910) / Freud, Sigmund

The Riddles of Sigmund Freud's Leonardo - Biography, Case History, or ...? / Hemecker, Wilhelm

Preface to Eminent Victorians (1918) / Strachey, Lytton

Biography as Exposure: Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians / Dhúill, Caitríona Ní

Literature and Biography (1923) / Tomashevsky, Boris

In Search of the Literary Fact: Boris Tomashevsky and the Limits of the Biographical Approach / Saunders, Edward

The Biography of the Object (1929) / Tretiakov, Sergei

In the Name of the Collective: Sergei Tretiakov's Plea for a Biography of the Object / Fetz, Bernhard

The Biography as an Art Form of the New Bourgeoisie (1930) / Kracauer, Siegfried

How to Make Employees Matter: Siegfried Kracauer's Critique of Biography / Marian, Esther

The New Biography (1927) / Woolf, Virginia

The Art of Biography (1939) / Woolf, Virginia

The Biographical Craft: Virginia Woolf's Contributions to the Theory of Biography / Mittermayer, Manfred

History as a Poetess (1943) / Zweig, Stefan

Biography between Poetry and History: Stefan Zweig's 'History as a Poetess' / Mitterer, Cornelius

The Progressive-Regressive Method [Extract] (1957) / Sartre, Jean-Paul

Tracing the 'projet original': Jean-Paul Sartre's Biographical Hermeneutics / Dikovich, Albert

Sade, Fourier, Loyola [Extract] (1971) / Barthes, Roland

A Life in Memory Fragments: Roland Barthes's 'Biographemes' / Österle, David

'Hanging Up Looking Glasses at Odd Corners': Ethnobiographical Prospects (1978) / Clifford, James

Provincializing the Biographical Subject: James Clifford's Manifesto for a 'Less Centred' Biography / Saunders, Edward

Landscape for a Good Woman [Extract] (1986) / Steedman, Carolyn

Intersectional Biography: Class, Gender, and Genre in Carolyn Steedman's Landscape for a Good Woman / Dhúill, Caitríona Ní

The Biographical Illusion (1986) / Bourdieu, Pierre

Life as Trajectory: Pierre Bourdieu's 'The Biographical Illusion' (1986) / Kolkenbrock, Marie

Representing Women: Re-presenting the Past [Extract] (1989) / Beer, Gillian

Things Mean Differently at Different Historical Moments: Re-thinking (Literary) History and Biography / Prager, Katharina

Post-Thomas Edison (Recalling an Anti-Biography) (2003) / Nye, David E.

From 'Anti-Biography' to Online Biography? / Prager, Katharina / Hannesschläger, Vanessa

Approaching Celebrity Studies [Extract] (2010) / Turner, Graeme

Biography and Celebrity Studies / Saunders, Edward

List of Sources

Editorial Note

Select Bibliography

List of Contributors

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

3-11-051667-5

OCLC:

1002222148