Biography in Theory: Key Texts with Commentaries

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Biography in Theory

Key Texts with Commentaries

Edited by: Wilhelm Hemecker and Edward Saunders

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2017

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About this book

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.

Combines theoretical texts with commentaries

Ideal for use in undergraduate seminars

Includes new translations of texts by Herder and Zweig

Author / Editor information

Wilhelm W. Hemecker and Edward Saunders, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the History and Theory of Biography, Vienna, Austria.

Reviews

„Sehr gute Auswahl klassischer Texte zur Biographik."
Prof. Dr. Constantin Goschler, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Topics

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Frontmatter
I

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Contents
V

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Introduction Theory of Biography or Biography in Theory?
1
Edward Saunders

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The Rambler 60 (13 October 1750)
9
Samuel Johnson

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The Idler 24 (24 November 1759)
13
Samuel Johnson

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Samuel Johnson’s Advice to Biographers
15
Caitríona Ní Dhúill

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Fifth Letter on the Furtherance of Humanity (1793)
19
Johann Gottfried Herder

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The Living Memory of Biography: Johann Gottfried Herder’s ‘Fifth Letter on the Furtherance of Humanity’
22
Tobias Heinrich

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On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History [Extract] (1840)
27
Thomas Carlyle

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World History as Heroic Biography: Thomas Carlyle’s ‘Great Men’
30
Caitríona Ní Dhúill

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Plan for the Continuation of the Formation of the Historical World in the Human Sciences [Extract] [1904–10]
35
Wilhelm Dilthey

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Between Art and Academia: Wilhelm Dilthey’s Theory of Biography
41
Wilhelm Hemecker

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The Method of Sainte-Beuve [Extract] [1909]
47
Marcel Proust

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Against Biographical Interpretation: Marcel Proust’s Attack on Sainte-Beuve
55
Edward Saunders

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Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood [Extract] (1910)
61
Sigmund Freud

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The Riddles of Sigmund Freud’s Leonardo – Biography, Case History, or …?
68
Wilhelm Hemecker

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Preface to Eminent Victorians (1918)
76
Lytton Strachey

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Biography as Exposure: Lytton Strachey’s Eminent Victorians
78
Caitríona Ní Dhúill

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Literature and Biography (1923)
83
Boris Tomashevsky

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In Search of the Literary Fact: Boris Tomashevsky and the Limits of the Biographical Approach
91
Edward Saunders

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The Biography of the Object (1929)
97
Sergei Tretiakov

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In the Name of the Collective: Sergei Tretiakov’s Plea for a Biography of the Object
101
Bernhard Fetz

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The Biography as an Art Form of the New Bourgeoisie (1930)
107
Siegfried Kracauer

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How to Make Employees Matter: Siegfried Kracauer’s Critique of Biography
112
Esther Marian

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The New Biography (1927)
119
Virginia Woolf

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The Art of Biography (1939)
124
Virginia Woolf

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The Biographical Craft: Virginia Woolf’s Contributions to the Theory of Biography
131
Manfred Mittermayer

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History as a Poetess (1943)
136
Stefan Zweig

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Biography between Poetry and History: Stefan Zweig’s ‘History as a Poetess’
148
Cornelius Mitterer

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The Progressive-Regressive Method [Extract] (1957)
155
Jean-Paul Sartre

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Tracing the ‘projet original’: Jean-Paul Sartre’s Biographical Hermeneutics
166
Albert Dikovich

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Sade, Fourier, Loyola [Extract] (1971)
175
Roland Barthes

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A Life in Memory Fragments: Roland Barthes’s ‘Biographemes’
178
David Österle

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‘Hanging Up Looking Glasses at Odd Corners’: Ethnobiographical Prospects (1978)
186
James Clifford

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Provincializing the Biographical Subject: James Clifford’s Manifesto for a ‘Less Centred’ Biography
198
Edward Saunders

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Landscape for a Good Woman [Extract] (1986)
204
Carolyn Steedman

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Intersectional Biography: Class, Gender, and Genre in Carolyn Steedman’s Landscape for a Good Woman
206
Caitríona Ní Dhúill

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The Biographical Illusion (1986)
210
Pierre Bourdieu

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Life as Trajectory: Pierre Bourdieu’s ‘The Biographical Illusion’ (1986)
217
Marie Kolkenbrock

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Representing Women: Re-presenting the Past [Extract] (1989)
229
Gillian Beer

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Things Mean Differently at Different Historical Moments: Re-thinking (Literary) History and Biography
238
Katharina Prager

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Post-Thomas Edison (Recalling an Anti-Biography) (2003)
244
David E. Nye

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From ‘Anti-Biography’ to Online Biography?
256
Katharina Prager and Vanessa Hannesschläger

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Approaching Celebrity Studies [Extract] (2010)
263
Graeme Turner

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Biography and Celebrity Studies
269
Edward Saunders

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List of Sources
276

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Editorial Note
278

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Select Bibliography
279

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List of Contributors
287

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Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

August 7, 2017

eBook ISBN:

9783110516678

Paperback published on:

August 7, 2017

Paperback ISBN:

9783110501612

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Front matter:

8

Main content:

288

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110516678

eBook ISBN: 9783110516678

Paperback ISBN: 9783110501612

Keywords for this book

Biography; literary theory; historiography; life writing

Audience(s) for this book

Students and teachers of Literary Studies and History

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Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com

Biography in Theory

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction Theory of Biography or Biography in Theory?

The Rambler 60 (13 October 1750)

The Idler 24 (24 November 1759)

Samuel Johnson’s Advice to Biographers

Fifth Letter on the Furtherance of Humanity (1793)

The Living Memory of Biography: Johann Gottfried Herder’s ‘Fifth Letter on the Furtherance of Humanity’

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

World History as Heroic Biography: Thomas Carlyle’s ‘Great Men’

Plan for the Continuation of the Formation of the Historical World in the Human Sciences [Extract] [1904–10]

Between Art and Academia: Wilhelm Dilthey’s Theory of Biography

The Method of Sainte-Beuve [Extract] [1909]

Against Biographical Interpretation: Marcel Proust’s Attack on Sainte-Beuve

Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood [Extract] (1910)

The Riddles of Sigmund Freud’s Leonardo – Biography, Case History, or …?

Preface to Eminent Victorians (1918)

Biography as Exposure: Lytton Strachey’s Eminent Victorians

Literature and Biography (1923)

In Search of the Literary Fact: Boris Tomashevsky and the Limits of the Biographical Approach

The Biography of the Object (1929)

In the Name of the Collective: Sergei Tretiakov’s Plea for a Biography of the Object

The Biography as an Art Form of the New Bourgeoisie (1930)

How to Make Employees Matter: Siegfried Kracauer’s Critique of Biography

The New Biography (1927)

The Art of Biography (1939)

The Biographical Craft: Virginia Woolf’s Contributions to the Theory of Biography

History as a Poetess (1943)

Biography between Poetry and History: Stefan Zweig’s ‘History as a Poetess’

The Progressive-Regressive Method [Extract] (1957)

Tracing the ‘projet original’: Jean-Paul Sartre’s Biographical Hermeneutics

Sade, Fourier, Loyola [Extract] (1971)

A Life in Memory Fragments: Roland Barthes’s ‘Biographemes’

‘Hanging Up Looking Glasses at Odd Corners’: Ethnobiographical Prospects (1978)

Provincializing the Biographical Subject: James Clifford’s Manifesto for a ‘Less Centred’ Biography

Landscape for a Good Woman [Extract] (1986)

Intersectional Biography: Class, Gender, and Genre in Carolyn Steedman’s Landscape for a Good Woman

The Biographical Illusion (1986)

Life as Trajectory: Pierre Bourdieu’s ‘The Biographical Illusion’ (1986)

Representing Women: Re-presenting the Past [Extract] (1989)

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

Post-Thomas Edison (Recalling an Anti-Biography) (2003)

From ‘Anti-Biography’ to Online Biography?

Approaching Celebrity Studies [Extract] (2010)

Biography and Celebrity Studies

List of Sources

Editorial Note

Select Bibliography

List of Contributors

Bibliographic data