Autobiographies of others : historical subjects and literary fiction / Lucia Boldrini.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boldrini, Lucia.

Series:

Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature

Routledge studies in twentieth-century literature ; 26

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Autobiographical fiction--History and criticism.

Autobiographical fiction.

Biographical fiction--History and criticism.

Biographical fiction.

Historical fiction--History and criticism.

Historical fiction.

Fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

Fiction.

Biography as a literary form.

Characters and characteristics in literature.

Literature and history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (236 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, ©2012.

New York : Routledge, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this volume, Boldrini examines "heterobiography"-the first-person fictional account of a historic life. Boldrini shows that this mode is widely employed to reflect critically on the historical and philosophical understanding of the human; on individual identity; and on the power relationships that define the subject. In such texts, the grammatical first person becomes the site of an encounter, a stage where the relationships between historical, fictional and authorial subjectivities are played out and explored in the 'double I' of author and narrating historical character, of fictional narrator and historical person. Boldrini considers the ethical implications of assuming another's first-person voice, and the fraught issue of authorial responsibility. Constructions of the body are examined in relation to the material evidence of the subject's existence. Texts studied include Malouf's An Imaginary Life, Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang, Ondaatje's The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Adair's The Death of the Author, Banti's Artemisia, Vázquez Montalbán's Autobiografía del general Franco. Also discussed, among others: Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian, Tabucchi's The Last Three Days of Fernando Pessoa, Giménez-Bartlett's Una habitación ajena (A Room of Someone Else's).

Contents:

Introduction: the portrait of a voice

Heterobiography and the utopia of man

Heterobiography, violence, and the law

The madness of the documentary and the aesthetics of the body

The author? in theory, dead: heterobiography and responsibility

The polluted swamp: heterobiography, dialogue, and history

Conclusions.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

1-136-28325-0

1-283-58711-4

9786613899569

0-203-11264-4

1-136-28326-9

9780203112649

OCLC:

810082599