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Literary Biography: An Introduction illustrates and accounts for the literary genre that merges verifiable historical facts with the familiar conventions of narrative. It also reveals how the biographical context can enrich our understanding and appreciation of canonical authors. Thematically linked chapters trace the genre's development, define its primary characteristics, and illuminate its connections with fiction and portraiture. Further insights are gained by approaching literary biography from historical, comparative, inferential and autobiographical perspectives. Examples are drawn from the mainstream literary canon and include a variety of classical and contemporary authors ranging from Shakespeare, Dickens, Blake and Wordsworth to the Brontës, Hardy, Plath and Larkin. Biographical writers discussed feature both seminal figures such as Johnson, Boswell and Woolf to distinguished present-day biographers including Hermione Lee, Richard Holmes, Peter Ackroyd, Claire Tomalin and Michael Holroyd.
Literary Biography: An Introduction offers an erudite and insightful introduction into the history, theory and practice of the increasingly popular literary genre of life-writing.
About the author
Michael Benton is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Southampton. His publications include the highly influential Teaching Literature 9-14 (with Geoff Fox, 1985) and several widely used anthologies of poetry, most notably the Touchstones series (with Peter Benton, various editions 1968-2008). His most recent book was Studies in the Spectator Role: Literature, Painting and Pedagogy (2000).
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"Provides tutors and students with a useful means of entry to a complex and rapidly developing area of debate."--(Dinah Birch, University of Liverpool)
"I found this book both highly enjoyable and informative. It is simply excellent - very well written, elegant in structure and individual phrasing, a fascinating topic and a provocative introduction to a range of biographies."--(Geoff Fox, Exeter University)
"Last year I was sent Michael Benton's Literary Biography: An Introduction prior to publication, and was happy to supply a recommendation for the dust jacket. I described it then as an "elegant. introduction which is likely to appeal to both established scholars and to the growing number of university students who study the subject at all levels." Having read the book again for the purposes of this review, I am happy to stand by my initial response. Indeed, I would add that the book is sufficiently rich and thoughtful to provide an even more enjoyable and informative reading experience the second time around."--(Katherine Hughes, Biography) "Brisk and readable ... lucid and intelligent"--(Claire Harman, Times Literary Supplement)
