What is the opposite of hagiography? That is what I think about most of
the biographies of Lord Byron. While Austen's biographers seem to be
making her a saint, Byron's twentieth and twenty-first century biographers
seem to be vying with each other to see who can show him as the most
diabolical or depraved.
I prefer their letters. However, even then one has to be careful about the
opinions of the editors intruding on one's interpretation. Fanny Burney's
Diaries are better than any biography. One can find the basics of any of
the authors' lives on WIKIPEDIA. A good biography can add details and
richness to the bare description.
I haven't found a biography of Charlotte Bronte that makes me like her
more-- I don't know why this is as I am certainly sympathetic as to their
circumstances and think highly of their accomplishments under the
circumstances. However, I have mainly read the lives of the authors like
Charlotte Smith, Mary Robinson, and Maria Edgeworth-- those who published
before 1820.
I have a non-fiction book as well as the fiction of Dorothy Sayers and
find her interesting.
Nancy
On Wed, Oct 30, 2024 at 11:18?AM Ellen Moody via groups.io <ellen.moody=
[email protected]> wrote:
Great biographers: Claire Tomalin (recommend especially her
auotobiograhy), Victoria Glendinning (on Leonard Woolf), Claire Harmon
(on Charlotte Bronte, another on Fanny Burney), Hilary Spurling on
Christina Stead and Paul Scott. Older masterpiece: Gaskell's Life of
Charlotte Bronte. Francesca Wade's group biography Square Haunting, Mo
Moulton's Mutual Admiration Society: group biography of Dorothy Sayers
and her Somerville friends. Short ones: Virginia Woolf's brilliant
sketches. Of course Johnson and Boswell.
I really think none on Austen because of hagiography
Ellen
Ellen Moody