Biography in english literature
Biography meaning
The word 'biography' is a combination of the Greek words 'bios', which means 'life', and 'graphia', which refers to 'writing'. Simply stated, this means that a biography is a written account of someone else's life.
Biography: a detailed written account of a real person's life authored by a different person.
The subject of the biography, that is, the person whose life the biography is describing could be a historical figure, a celebrity, a politician, an athlete or even an ordinary person with a life full of stories worth telling.
A biography is a factual recording of a person's life from their birth to death (or the time that the biography is being written). It contains detailed descriptions of the person's childhood, education, relationships, career and any other key touchstone moments that defined that person's life. Hence, a biography is a non-fictional form of writing.
Non-fiction: Literature that is based on real-life events and facts, rather than imagination.
The first-ever biographies can be traced back to Ancient Greece and Rome, where people celebrated gods as well as notable men by writing about their personalities and life's accomplishments. Plutarch'sParallel Lives, published about 80 A.D, is the earliest ever recorded biographic work written solely about humans. In this work, Greeks are paired with Romans and are held up against each other and compared, with one being a good example to follow whilst the other's life serves as a cautionary tale
Difference between biography and autobiography
A biography is a written account of a person's life written by someone else. In this case, the subject, that is, the person the biography is written about is NOT the author or the narrator of the biography. Usually, the author and narrator of a biography, also known as the biographer, is someone who takes a great deal of interest in the subject's life.
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 person. 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 Biographies
The biography form has its roots in Ancient Rome and Greece. In 44 BCE, Roman writer Cornelius Nepos published Excellentium Imperatorum Vitae (Lives of the Generals), one of the earliest recorded biographies. In 80 CE, Greek writer Plutarch released Parallel Lives, a sweeping work consisting of 48 biographies of famous men. In CE, Roman historian Suetonius wrote De vita Caesarum (On the Lives of the Caesars), a series of 12 biographies detailing the lives of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire. These were among the most widely read biographies of their time, and at least portions of them have survived intact over the millennia.
During the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church had a notable influence on biographies. Historical, political, and cultural biographies fell out of favor. Biographies of religious figures—including saints, popes, and church founders—replaced them. One notable exception was Italian painte 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. A literary biography is the biographical exploration of individuals' lives merging historical facts with the conventions of narrative. Biographies about artists and writers are sometimes some of the most complicated forms of biography. 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 itself. Literary biographers must balance the weight of commentary on the subject-author's oeuvre (complete body of works) against the biographical content to create a coherent narrative of the subject-author's live. This balance is interpretively-influenced by the degree of biographical elements inherent in an author's literary works. The close relationship between writers and their work relies on ideas that connect human psychology and literature and can be examined through psychoanalytic theory. Literary biography may address subject-authors whose oeuvre contains a plethora of autobiographical information and who welcome the biographical analysis of their work. Elizabeth Longford, a biographer of Wilfrid Blunt, noted, "Writers are articulate and tend to leave eloquent source material which the biographer will be eager to use." The opposite may also be the case, some authors and artists go out of their way to discourage the Written account of a person's life For other uses, see Biography (disambiguation). A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of their life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality. Biographical works are usually non-fiction, but fiction can also be used to portray a person's life. One in-depth form of biographical coverage is called legacy writing. Works in diverse media, from literature to film, form the genre known as biography. An authorized biography is written with the permission, cooperation, and at times, participation of a subject or a subject's heirs. An unauthorized biography is one written without such permission or participation. An autobiography is written by the person themselves, sometimes with the assistance of a collaborator or ghostwriter. At first, biographical writings were regarded merely as a subsection of history with a focus on a particular individual of historical importance. The independent genre of biography as distinct from general history writing, began to emerge in the 18th century and reached its contemporary form at the turn of the 20th century. Biography is the earliest literary genre in history. According to Egyptologist Miriam Lichtheim, writing took its first steps toward literature in the context of the private tomb funerary inscriptions. These were commemorative&#;biographical&#;texts recounting the careers of deceased high royal officials. The earliest biographical texts are from the 26th century BC. In the 21st century BC, another famous biography was composed in Mesopotamia about Gilgamesh. One Biography in literature
Literary biography
Biography
History
Historical biography