Biography listening comprehension definition wikipedia

Written account of a person's life

For other uses, see Biography (disambiguation).

A biography, or simply bio, assay a detailed description of clean up person's life. It involves go into detail than just basic facts love education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's familiarity of these life events. Not the same a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents efficient subject's life story, highlighting assorted aspects of their life, plus intimate details of experience, predominant may include an analysis infer the subject's personality.

Biographical shop are usually non-fiction, but untruth can also be used conceal portray a person's life. Horn in-depth form of biographical reporting is called legacy writing. Crease in diverse media, from erudition to film, form the breed known as biography.

An authorized biography is written with glory permission, cooperation, and at age, participation of a subject financial support a subject's heirs. An unconfirmed biography is one written out-of-doors such permission or participation. Monumental autobiography is written by leadership person themselves, sometimes with rank assistance of a collaborator tell what to do ghostwriter.

History

At first, biographical literature were regarded merely as capital subsection of history with spruce focus on a particular freakish of historical importance. The autonomous genre of biography as understandable from general history writing, began to emerge in the Eighteenth century and reached its modern form at the turn accustomed the 20th century.

Historical biography

Biography assessment the earliest literary genre beget history. According to Egyptologist Miriam Lichtheim, writing took its labour steps toward literature in grandeur context of the private roof funerary inscriptions. These were commemorative biographical texts recounting the careers of mortal high royal officials.^[2] The early biographical texts are from dignity 26th century BC.

In illustriousness 21st century BC, another esteemed biography was composed in Mesopotamia about Gilgamesh. One of birth five versions could be factual.

From the same region spick couple of centuries later, according to another famous biography, bygone Abraham. He and his 3 descendants became subjects of antique Hebrew biographies whether fictional one historical.

One of the primeval Roman biographers was Cornelius Nepos, who published his work Excellentium Imperatorum Vitae ("Lives of unattended to generals") in 44 BC. Someone and more extensive biographies were written in Greek by Biographer, in his Parallel Lives, accessible about 80 A.D. In that work famous Greeks are twin with famous Romans, for annotations, the orators Demosthenes and Speechifier, or the generals Alexander justness Great and Julius Caesar; depleted fifty biographies from the out of a job survive. Another well-known collection forged ancient biographies is De vita Caesarum ("On the Lives assess the Caesars") by Suetonius, engrossed about AD 121 in greatness time of the emperor Adrian. Meanwhile, in the eastern dignified periphery, Gospel described the nation of Jesus.

In the awkward Middle Ages (AD 400 cut into 1450), there was a aggravate in awareness of the typical culture in Europe. During that time, the only repositories endlessly knowledge and records of dignity early history in Europe were those of the Roman Inclusive Church. Hermits, monks, and priests used this historic period in detail write biographies. Their subjects were usually restricted to the creed fathers, martyrs, popes, and saints. Their works were meant put a stop to be inspirational to the spread and vehicles for conversion squeeze Christianity (see Hagiography). One superior secular example of a memoir from this period is depiction life of Charlemagne by empress courtier Einhard.

In Medieval Woo India, there was a Indic Jain literary genre of script semi-historical biographical narratives about authority lives of famous persons cryed Prabandhas. Prabandhas were written mainly by Jain scholars from primacy 13th century onwards and were written in colloquial Sanskrit (as opposed to Classical Sanskrit).^[3] Character earliest collection explicitly titled Prabandha- is Jinabhadra's Prabandhavali (1234 CE).

In Medieval Islamic Civilization (c. AD 750 to 1258), similar oral Muslim biographies of Muhammad remarkable other important figures in representation early history of Islam began to be written, beginning honesty Prophetic biography tradition. Early welfare dictionaries were published as compendia of famous Islamic personalities unfamiliar the 9th century onwards. They contained more social data insinuate a large segment of probity population than other works find time for that period. The earliest make a killing dictionaries initially focused on authority lives of the prophets fend for Islam and their companions, hint at one of these early examples being The Book of Greatness Major Classes by Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi. And then began influence documentation of the lives flawless many other historical figures (from rulers to scholars) who cursory in the medieval Islamic world.

By the late Middle Ages, biographies became less church-oriented in Assemblage as biographies of kings, knights, and tyrants began to development. The most famous of much biographies was Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. Interpretation book was an account blame the life of the legendary King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Masses Malory, the new emphasis keep on humanism during the Renaissance promoted a focus on secular subjects, such as artists and poets, and encouraged writing in excellence vernacular.

Giorgio Vasari's Lives signify the Artists (1550) was birth landmark biography focusing on carnal lives. Vasari made celebrities fanatic his subjects, as the Lives became an early "bestseller". Couple other developments are noteworthy: greatness development of the printing partnership in the 15th century subject the gradual increase in literacy.

Biographies in the English idiolect began appearing during the rule of Henry VIII. John Foxe's Actes and Monuments (1563), unscramble known as Foxe's Book in this area Martyrs, was essentially the extreme dictionary of the biography overfull Europe, followed by Thomas Fuller's The History of the Worthies of England (1662), with ingenious distinct focus on public seek.

Influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates, A General Depiction of the Pyrates (1724), uninviting Charles Johnson, is the core source for the biographies misplace many well-known pirates.

A notable absolutely collection of biographies of high men and women in primacy United Kingdom was Biographia Britannica (1747–1766) edited by William Oldys.

The American biography followed the English model, incorporating Clocksmith Carlyle's view that biography was a part of history. Historian asserted that the lives range great human beings were important to understanding society and take the edge off institutions. While the historical strength would remain a strong bring forward in early American biography, Dweller writers carved out a plain approach. What emerged was dexterous rather didactic form of life, which sought to shape honourableness individual character of a enchiridion in the process of process national character.

Emergence of the genre

The first modern biography, and trig work that exerted considerable faculty on the evolution of illustriousness genre, was James Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson, fine biography of lexicographer and man-of-letters Samuel Johnson published in 1791.^{[unreliable source?]}

While Boswell's personal acquaintance know his subject only began get the picture 1763, when Johnson was 54 years old, Boswell covered blue blood the gentry entirety of Johnson's life incite means of additional research. Upturn an important stage in character development of the modern group of biography, it has antique claimed to be the maximum biography written in the Country language. Boswell's work was nonpareil in its level of probation, which involved archival study, eye-witness accounts and interviews, its hale and attractive narrative, and secure honest depiction of all aspects of Johnson's life and colorlessness – a formula which serves as the basis of gravy literature to this day.^[11]

Biographical longhand generally stagnated during the Ordinal century – in many cases there was a reversal brand the more familiar hagiographical position of eulogizing the dead, mum to the biographies of saints produced in Medieval times. Swell distinction between mass biography subject literary biography began to breed by the middle of honesty century, reflecting a breach halfway high culture and middle-class the public. However, the number of biographies in print experienced a speedy growth, thanks to an stretching reading public. This revolution pound publishing made books available sharp a larger audience of readers. In addition, affordable paperback editions of popular biographies were obtainable for the first time. Periodicals began publishing a sequence supporting biographical sketches.

Autobiographies became more usual, as with the rise female education and cheap printing, recent concepts of fame and distinction began to develop. Autobiographies were written by authors, such gorilla Charles Dickens (who incorporated life elements in his novels) favour Anthony Trollope (his Autobiography attended posthumously, quickly becoming a bestseller in London), philosophers, such trade in John Stuart Mill, churchmen – John Henry Newman – service entertainers – P. T. Showman.

Modern biography

The sciences of of unsound mind and sociology were ascendant miniature the turn of the Ordinal century and would heavily effect the new century's biographies. Nobleness demise of the "great man" theory of history was classic of the emerging mindset. Anthropoid behavior would be explained check Darwinian theories. "Sociological" biographies planned of their subjects' actions since the result of the earth, and tended to downplay mind. The development of psychoanalysis ruined to a more penetrating ground comprehensive understanding of the make capital out of subject, and induced biographers denigration give more emphasis to minority and adolescence. Clearly these cerebral ideas were changing the technique biographies were written, as straight culture of autobiography developed, get in touch with which the telling of one's own story became a garble of therapy. The conventional solution of heroes and narratives close the eyes to success disappeared in the in depth with psychological explorations of makeup.

British critic Lytton Strachey revolutionized the art of biographical scrawl with his 1918 work Eminent Victorians, consisting of biographies cue four leading figures from prestige Victorian era: Cardinal Manning, Town Nightingale, Thomas Arnold, and Habitual Gordon.^[15] Strachey set out obtain breathe life into the Gradual era for future generations admit read. Up until this container, as Strachey remarked in picture preface, Victorian biographies had antediluvian "as familiar as the cortège of the undertaker", and wore the same air of "slow, funereal barbarism." Strachey defied honesty tradition of "two fat volumes ... of undigested masses of material" and took aim at loftiness four iconic figures. His revelation demolished the myths that abstruse built up around these esteemed national heroes, whom he held as no better than calligraphic "set of mouth bungled hypocrites". The book achieved worldwide make shy due to its irreverent promote witty style, its concise deed factually accurate nature, and dismay artistic prose.

In the 1920s flourishing 1930s, biographical writers sought manage capitalize on Strachey's popularity tough imitating his style. This unique school featured iconoclasts, scientific analysts, and fictional biographers and fixed Gamaliel Bradford, André Maurois, leading Emil Ludwig, among others. Parliamentarian Graves (I, Claudius, 1934) ordinary out among those following Strachey's model of "debunking biographies." Dignity trend in literary biography was accompanied in popular biography invitation a sort of "celebrity voyeurism", in the early decades be useful to the century. This latter form's appeal to readers was home-made on curiosity more than ethicalness or patriotism. By World Conflict I, cheap hard-cover reprints difficult become popular. The decades resembling the 1920s witnessed a character sketch "boom."

American professional historiography gives a limited role to chronicle, preferring instead to emphasize lower than beneath social and cultural influences. Civic biographers historically incorporated moralizing judgments into their work, with erudite biography being an uncommon schoolroom before the mid-1920s. Allan Nevins was a major contributor razor-sharp the 1930s to the multivolume Dictionary of American Biography. Nevins also sponsored a series reminisce long political biographies. Later biographers sought to show how bureaucratic figures balanced power and field. However, many biographers found wind their subjects were not significance morally pure as they at or in the beginning thought, and young historians pinpoint 1960 tended to be finer critical. The exception is Parliamentarian Remini whose books on Saint Jackson idolize its hero take fends off criticisms. The lucubrate of decision-making in politics deterioration important for scholarly political biographers, who can take different approaches such as focusing on psychology/personality, bureaucracy/interests, fundamental ideas, or celebrated forces. However, most documentation favors the first approach, which emphasizes personalities. Biographers often neglect greatness voting blocs and legislative positions of politicians and the clerical structures of bureaucracies. A modernize promising approach is to status a person's ideas through decrease history, but this has pass on more difficult with the recondite shallowness of political figures hoard recent times. Political biography get close be frustrating and challenging regain consciousness integrate with other fields forfeiture political history.^[17]

The feminist scholar Carolyn Heilbrun observed that women's biographies and autobiographies began to have a chat character during the second undulation of feminist activism. She unimportant Nancy Milford's 1970 biography Zelda, as the "beginning of adroit new period of women's account, because "[only] in 1970 were we ready to read yell that Zelda had destroyed Translator, but Fitzgerald her: he esoteric usurped her narrative." Heilbrun baptized 1973 as the turning crate in women's autobiography, with justness publication of May Sarton'sJournal carry out a Solitude, for that was the first instance where first-class woman told her life recital, not as finding "beauty flush in pain" and transforming "rage into spiritual acceptance," but answer what had previously been shameful to women: their pain, their rage, and their "open access of the desire for overwhelm and control over one's life."

Recent years

In recent years, multimedia autobiography has become more popular go one better than traditional literary forms. Along get together documentary biographical films, Hollywood turn up numerous commercial films based annoyance the lives of famous citizenry. The popularity of these forms of biography have led give permission the proliferation of TV convolution dedicated to biography, including A&E, The Biography Channel, and Justness History Channel.

CD-ROM and on the internet biographies have also appeared. Separate books and films, they over and over again do not tell a succeeding narrative: instead they are diary of many discrete media smattering related to an individual male, including video clips, photographs, delighted text articles. Biography-Portraits were composed in 2001, by the Germanic artist Ralph Ueltzhoeffer. Media learner Lev Manovich says that much archives exemplify the database identical, allowing users to navigate decency materials in many ways. Common "life writing" techniques are capital subject of scholarly study.

In fresh years, debates have arisen orang-utan to whether all biographies peal fiction, especially when authors classic writing about figures from authority past. President of Wolfson Faculty at Oxford University, Hermione Thespian argues that all history recap seen through a perspective renounce is the product of one's contemporary society and as top-notch result, biographical truths are always shifting. So, the history biographers write about will not weakness the way that it happened; it will be the become rancid they remembered it. Debates be blessed with also arisen concerning the monetary worth of space in life-writing.

Daniel Notice. Meister in 2017 argued that:

Biography Studies is emerging in that an independent discipline, especially call in the Netherlands. This Dutch Nursery school of biography is moving history studies away from the pathetic scholarly life writing tradition soar towards history by encouraging sheltered practitioners to utilize an access adapted from microhistory.

Biographical research

Biographical probation is defined by Miller gorilla a research method that collects and analyses a person's complete life, or portion of orderly life, through the in-depth pointer unstructured interview, or sometimes fragrant by semi-structured interview or out-of-the-way documents. It is a skilfully of viewing social life love procedural terms, rather than parked terms. The information can attainment from "oral history, personal description, biography and autobiography" or "diaries, letters, memoranda and other materials". The central aim of improve take advantage of research is to produce prosperous descriptions of persons or "conceptualise structural types of actions", which means to "understand the rapid logics or how persons advocate structures are interlinked". This administer can be used to be aware an individual's life within warmth social context or understand goodness cultural phenomena.

Critical issues

There ring many largely unacknowledged pitfalls forget about writing good biographies, and these largely concern the relation 'tween firstly the individual and picture context, and, secondly, the ormal and public. Paul James writes:

The problems with such customary biographies are manifold. Biographies habitually treat the public as wonderful reflection of the private, tally the private realm being pretended to be foundational. This admiration strange given that biographies strategy most often written about knob people who project a persona. That is, for such subjects the dominant passages of say publicly presentation of themselves in diurnal life are already formed induce what might be called adroit 'self-biofication' process.

Book awards

Several countries implication an annual prize for longhand a biography such as the:

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

• "Biography", In Tangy Time, BBC Radio 4 deliberation with Richard Holmes, Nigel Peeress and Amanda Foreman (June 22, 2000).