A Life in Biography

Latest Episodes:

Gay Faulkner and Biography, how the story gets told, and why. Nov 13, 2021

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Faulkner’s performance of gayness, why it was important, how it enters his work, and why a book such as Gay Faulkner destablizes biography is a good thing.

What’s New in Biography, 2021: Three Well Worn Biographical Subjects Nov 06, 2021

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Why write another biography of? Three biographers answer the question for Robert E. Lee, Oliver Cromwell, and Winston Churchill

Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, and most of all Assia Wevill in a new light in Capriccio Oct 31, 2021

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Part of a continuing series on the biographical novel and the way it contributes to our understanding of biographical subjects—this time with Dina Davis who does justice to Assia Wevill

The Business of Biography: An Addendum, courtesy of Karen Christensen Oct 23, 2021

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A wide-ranging discussion with Karen Christensen, publisher and biographer, about libel, indemnity clauses, the widow Eliot and others widows and wives.

The Role Of Interpretation: A Discussion with the Inimitable Hans Renders Oct 21, 2021

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A wide ranging discussion of how biographers treat the issue of interpretation, how much to comment as opposed to just telling the story.

The Answer to One Biography is Another Biography Oct 16, 2021

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I explain why in terms of my own experience researching and writing about the life of Sylvia Plath

The Answer to One Biography is Another Biography Oct 16, 2021

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I explain why in terms of my own experience working on Sylvia Plath

A conversation with Joseph McBride about Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge Oct 09, 2021

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A wide-ranging discussion of Billy Wilder’s career, why McBride decided to do a biographical/critical study of the director, and the different objectives of biographical and critical studies in view of McBride’s own work on Frank Capra, John Ford, Steven Spielberg, Orson Welles, and others.

A Capsule History of The Biographical Novel with Michael Lackey Oct 02, 2021

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How the biographical novel got started, what it is now, and where we are headed.

What’s New in Biography, Part 3: Show Business and the Archives Sep 25, 2021

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Three new biographies that say so much about the art of biography.