First biography in english literature

  • Historical biography example
  • Biography examples
  • What is autobiography

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    Biography in literature

    When studying literature, biography and its relationship to literature is often a subject of literary criticism, and is treated in several different forms. Two scholarly approaches use biography or biographical approaches to the past as a tool for interpreting literature: literary biography and biographical criticism. Conversely, two genres of fiction rely heavily on the incorporation of biographical elements into their content: biographical fiction and autobiographical fiction.

    Literary biography

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    A literary biography is the biographical exploration of individuals' lives merging historical facts with the conventions of narrative.[1] Biographies about artists and writers are sometimes some of the most complicated forms of biography.[2] Not only does the author of the biography have to write about the subject of the biography but also must incorporate discussion of the subject-author's literary works into the biography itse

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    biography

    What Is Biography? Definition, Usage, and Literary Examples

    Biography Definition

    A biography (BYE-og-ruh-fee) is a written account of one person’s life authored by another individ. A biography includes all pertinent details from the subject’s life, typically arranged in a chronological order. The word biography stems from the Latin biographia, which succinctly explains the word’s definition: bios = “life” + graphia = “write.”

    Since the advent of the written word, historical writings have offered information about real people, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that biographies evolved into a separate literary genre. Autobiographies and memoirs fall under the broader biography genre, but they are distinct literary forms due to one key factor: the subjects themselves write these works. Biographies are popular source materials for documentaries, television shows, and motion pictures.

    The History of

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    Life Writing
    by
    Valerie Sanders
    • LAST REVIEWED: 25 July 2023
    • LAST MODIFIED: 25 July 2023
    • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199799558-0151

  • Amigoni, David, ed. Life Writing and Victorian Culture. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2006.

    Contains ten essays on different genres, and canonical and noncanonical figures, with an emphasis on masculinities, domestic relations, and the boundaries between public print and private experience. Includes an introduction bygd the editor.

  • Booth, Alison. “Life Writing.” In The Cambridge Companion to English Literature, 1830–1914. Edited by Joanne Shattock, 50–70. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

    Succinct and wide-ranging overview of the different varieties of 19th-century life writing and its practitioners, including collective biography, the traditional “life-and-letters,” female autobiographers, and a subsection on Carlyle as personifying the notion that “individuals can stand for the spirit of a

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