The Art of Biography 9781087126432

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Автор: Thayer William Roscoe
Название: The Art of Biography
ISBN: 9781087126432
Издательство: Independently Published
Классификация: ISBN-10: 1087126436
Обложка/Формат: Paperback
Страницы: 166
Вес: 0.23 кг.
Дата издания: 03.08.2019
Язык: English
Размер: 22.91 x 15.19 x 0.89 cm
Поставляется из: США
Описание: The Art of Biography is a subject on which Mr. W. R. Thayer may justly claim to be heard, since he has proven his mastery of the art by his biographies of Cavour, John Hay, and Theodore Roosevelt. In this delightful little volume, which comprises three lectures which he gave at the University of Virginia, Mr. Thayer does not attempt to formulate rules to guide aspiring biographers to success. But he does trace, in deft lines, the development of the art of biographical writing from that perfect ancient example-The Story of Joseph and His Brothers-down to Morleys three-volume Gladstone. Mr. Thayer thinks that the constant direction in the evolution of biography has been from the outward to the inward. At first the chief effort was to describe the external man, the rank or position he filled, and his visible acts. Kings, generals, and other conspicuous persons furnished the usual theme. Gradually, however, writers came to see that a king, in spite of his supreme station, might be very dull and uninteresting; consequently, they fixed their attention on persons who, being intrinsically interesting, did not require the fortuitous spotlight of a proud race or a high station. They came to perceive, also, that the motive behind the deed was the really essential thing to study and to interpret. Three indispensable qualifications, he thinks, the biographer must have. He must have real sympathy with his subject. This sympathy must not degenerate into the unrestrained eulogy of hero-worship, as is too often the case where a great mans life is told by his son or his widow. The biographer must interpret the defects and blunders of his subject in their true relations, neither exaggerating them as Froude did in his Carlyle, nor explaining them all away, as did a life of Robert E. Lee. When Mr. Thayer read that life of Lee, he began to doubt the existence of such a paragon; only when the author stated that General Lee used to take his ease in a rocking-chair, sitting in his stocking feet, did I perceive that he was a real person. In the second place, the biographer must tell the story as nearly as possible as the actors underwent it. You can never describe a battle, or any other historical event, unless you put in the suspense, the passion, the half-knowledge or complete ignorance, which determined its outcome. Finally, the biographer must work as the portrait painter works with his brush, always aiming to discover and to reveal the salient characteristics which made a real flesh-and-blood personality.-The Weekly Review, Vol. 3

The Art of Biography, Thayer William Roscoe