How To Do Biography
A Primer
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- $22.99
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
It is not surprising that biography is one of the most popular literary genres of our day. What is remarkable is that there is no accessible guide for how to write one. Now, following his recent Biography: A Brief History (from Harvard), award-winning biographer and teacher Nigel Hamilton tackles the practicalities of doing biography in this first succinct primer to elucidate the tools of the biographer’s craft.
Hamilton invites the reader to join him on a fascinating journey through the art of biographical composition. Starting with personal motivation, he charts the making of a modern biography from the inside: from conception to fulfillment. He emphasizes the need to know one’s audience, rehearses the excitement and perils of modern research, delves into the secrets of good and great biography, and guides the reader through the essential components of life narrative.
With examples taken from the finest modern biographies, Hamilton shows how to portray the ages of man—birth, childhood, love, life’s work, the evening of life, and death. In addition, he suggests effective ways to start and close a life story. He clarifies the difference between autobiography and memoir—and addresses the sometimes awkward ethical, legal, and personal consequences of truth-telling in modern life writing. He concludes with the publication and reception of biography—its afterlife, so to speak.
Written with humor, insight, and compassion, How To Do Biography is the manual that would-be biographers have long been awaiting.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this follow-up to Biography: A Brief History, Hamilton crafts a guide to writing biography that's one part how-to and several parts indulgent-but illuminating-infatuation with the possibilities of the form. Drawing instruction from his own lifetime of biographic work and others'-including Samuel Johnson, Robert Caro, David McCullough, Hermione Lee, Edmund Morris, and others whom Hamilton has admired, known and worked with-the author takes readers on an intellectual journey through the creative process, from conception to publishing. Chapters cover questions of agenda, audience and research, how to take your subject from birth to death, and the "afterlife" of the published work. Hamilton's passion, lyricism and collection of telling anecdotes make this "short book of advice" an unexpected page-turner; it's hard not to get caught up in the author's romantic vision of biography, a form he believes has nearly as many permutations as music. Elucidating not just the dos and don'ts of biography, but also the whys and hows, Hamilton has created a motivating, empowering guide for writers (and fans) of the genre.
