Mapping Lives by Peter France

Mapping Lives by Peter France

Why biography? This collection of essays on the problems and functions of biography, and particularly the biography of writers, thinkers and artists, investigates a subject of enduring importance for those interested in culture and society. In the last century, it has been a controversial subject, as old models of biographical writing were attacked and superseded, while critics and theorists questioned the once self-evident value of the biography of writers. Yet the genre continues to attract notable authors and is unfailingly popular with readers. The present volume, while containing essays by practising biographers, is intended primarily as a stimulus to critical thinking. It focuses on the diverse functions assumed by life-writing in different European countries at different periods, challenging both the notion of a genre with constant characteristics and aims and the view of modern biography as the happy culmination of centuries of progress.

Review from previous edition Absorbing and informative * Times Literary Supplement 30/08/02 *
An impressive collection of essays, some by well-known practitioners * The Economist 13/12/02 *

William St. Clair is the author of That Greece Might Still be Free, awarded the Heinemann prize by the Royal Society of Literature. He is also a leading scholar of Byron and Shelley and was awarded the Time Life prize and Macmillan silver pen for his The Godwins and the Shelleys in 1989. He is a
contributor to the Financial Times, TLS and other journals, and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780197263181
ISBN 10	0197263186
Title	Mapping Lives
Author	Peter France
Series	British Academy Centenary Monographs
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2004-09-23
Number of pages	360
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.