Read The Biographer's Gift: Life Histories and Humanism

The Biographer's Gift: Life Histories and Humanism

James F. Veninga

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Description:Although biography has long held an important place in our literary tradition, it has assumed increasing importance in recent decades. Perhaps to escape from the impersonal, technological nature of modern life, readers flock to bookstores to buy life histories of the famous and the infamous, the hero and the anti-hero, the rich and the poor.As more people accept the biographer’s gift, more also ask fundamental questions about it: How has the ancient art of life writing changed? How have the social sciences, especially psychology and psychoanalysis, influenced biography? What are the characteristics of “good” biography? How is biography written, and why? Is biography history or literature—or some hybrid? What “relationships” develop between writer and “subject”? How does one age understand another through life histories? What can we learn of life and the human condition through biography?To help answer these questions, the Texas Committee for the Humanities devoted the 1982 Texas Lecture and Institute on the Humanities to the study of biography. This volume represents the fruits of that program. Leading biographers Frank Vandiver, Robert H. Abzug, Ronald Steel, Stephen B. Oates, and Jean Strouse tackle these fundamental questions and present fresh perspectives on the gift offered by the biographer—and the gift possessed by the biographer. Two chapters, one by Steven Weiland and the other by James F. Veninga, explore the “uses” of biography and the insight gained through reading it. The book also includes probing interviews with Abzug, Steel, Oates, and Strouse.Although the papers included in this book display differing approaches to and perspectives on biography, there is no disagreement over the central point raised by Vandiver—that biography at its best “brings a touch of humanity from the past and can, if deftly done, offer a glimpse of humanity in microcosm.”We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with The Biographer's Gift: Life Histories and Humanism. To get started finding The Biographer's Gift: Life Histories and Humanism, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Pages: 129

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Release: 1984

ISBN: 0890961689

Description: Although biography has long held an important place in our literary tradition, it has assumed increasing importance in recent decades. Perhaps to escape from the impersonal, technological nature of modern life, readers flock to bookstores to buy life histories of the famous and the infamous, the hero and the anti-hero, the rich and the poor.As more people accept the biographer’s gift, more also ask fundamental questions about it: How has the ancient art of life writing changed? How have the social sciences, especially psychology and psychoanalysis, influenced biography? What are the characteristics of “good” biography? How is biography written, and why? Is biography history or literature—or some hybrid? What “relationships” develop between writer and “subject”? How does one age understand another through life histories? What can we learn of life and the human condition through biography?To help answer these questions, the Texas Committee for the Humanities devoted the 1982 Texas Lecture and Institute on the Humanities to the study of biography. This volume represents the fruits of that program. Leading biographers Frank Vandiver, Robert H. Abzug, Ronald Steel, Stephen B. Oates, and Jean Strouse tackle these fundamental questions and present fresh perspectives on the gift offered by the biographer—and the gift possessed by the biographer. Two chapters, one by Steven Weiland and the other by James F. Veninga, explore the “uses” of biography and the insight gained through reading it. The book also includes probing interviews with Abzug, Steel, Oates, and Strouse.Although the papers included in this book display differing approaches to and perspectives on biography, there is no disagreement over the central point raised by Vandiver—that biography at its best “brings a touch of humanity from the past and can, if deftly done, offer a glimpse of humanity in microcosm.”We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with The Biographer's Gift: Life Histories and Humanism. To get started finding The Biographer's Gift: Life Histories and Humanism, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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The Biographer's Gift: Life Histories and Humanism

The Biographer's Gift: Life Histories and Humanism

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