A Life in Biography

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**A Life in Biography**

Talks and interviews about the life of biography as experienced by a biographer over forty years and fourteen biographies, dealing with subjects ranging from Sylvia Plath to William Faulkner, Marilyn Monroe to Susan Sontag, and much more.

Latest Episodes:

Words Often Applied to Biography Aug 29, 2020

Show notes

Authorized/Unauthorized; Gossipy/Salacious/; Plodding/Workmanlike/Revisionist

3 Questions You Should Never Ask About Biography Aug 22, 2020

Show notes

1. Is the subject worthy of a biography. 2. Is the subject too small? 3. Why another biography of?

Episode 19: Proposing a Biography Aug 15, 2020

Show notes

Why it is important to do a proposal? Why not just write the book? This podcast tells you why.

Episode 18: Biography, The Historical Present, and You Aug 08, 2020

Show notes

When does it make sense to use the present tense in a biography? Examples from the work of Noel Riley Fitch, William Faulkner, and yours truly.

Marilyn Monroe and the Idea of Biography Aug 01, 2020

Show notes

Biography is its own form of knowledge, a view that many readers and reviewers of biography are reluctant to acknowledge, or do not even consider.

Episode 16: My Listeners Respond Jul 25, 2020

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Listeners who want to know how to navigate the varied access to sources with different subjects, or how to present a new vision without new sources.

The Gaps and Bulges of Biography Jul 18, 2020

Show notes

What to do when not all parts of your biographical subject’s life are equal, when the first part of the life seems the most exciting, for example, or when interest only really builds in the last part of the subject’s life.

Episode 14: Who Deserves A Biography? Jul 11, 2020

Show notes

The answer to who deserves a biography is everyone, or anyone. It all depends on the materials you have, if the story moves you, and you know how to tell it.

Episode 13: Homage to Deirdre Bair and the Purpose of Biography Jul 04, 2020

Show notes

My tribute to one of the great biographers of our time and why her work matters, and why biography matters.

How I Became a Biographer Jun 27, 2020

Show notes

A quick explanation of how it all started with Marilyn Monroe.