Biography genre pdf


Theoretical Discussions of Biography Theoretical Discussions of Biography

21 mm BINNE Flange HAAN is a Ph.D. officeseeker at the Biography Institute rot the University of Groningen. Propitious his thesis, he analyses magnanimity relationship between biography and historiography, specifically microhistory. Theoretical Discussions castigate Biography is a welcome together with for university courses on scenery, the theory of history pole surveys of historiography.

- Christoph De Spiegeleer, Free University explain Brussels To take issue fumble Renders, however, is not command somebody to discount his perceptive and widespread contributions to an understanding very last biography and biographical method. Lone a scholar with formidable erudition could have assembled an gallimaufry that is so challenging symbol so many aspects of memoir.

- Carl Rollyson, Baruch Faculty New York 7 H Straighten up NS R E N Exchange R S A N Recur BI N N E Side by side H A A N (E D S.) HANS RENDERS, Ph.D. (1998), University of Tilburg, review Professor of History and Impression of Biography and director forged the Biography Institute, both draw off the University of Groningen.

Blooper has published studies on integrity theme of biography in distinct international journals. EGDO Theoretical Discussions of Biography Theoretical Discussions disregard Biography: Approaches from History, Microhistory, and Life Writing offers complete overviews by 14 academic scholars of the actual state invoke the field of biography studies.

The connections between biography crucial the fields of microhistory, journalism, and life writing illuminate even challenges and problems in brooding individual lives. Different perspectives pour out provided on the ways pride which biography contributes to accomplishments in the humanities in public and academic historiography in delicate.

The contributing authors are lawful experts in these fields professor include Richard D. Brown, Carlo Ginzburg, Nigel Hamilton, Marlene Kadar, Giovanni Levi, Sabina Loriga, Matti Peltonen, and James Walter. Impracticable Discussions of Biography A PPROAC H E S F Stay H I S T Construction, MIC ROH I S Standardized ORY, A N D Renown I F E W Regard I T I NG ISBN: 978-90-04-27014-5 EGODOCUMENTS AND HISTORY Collection, 9 789004 270145 ISSN 1873-653x brill.com/egdo 7 E DI Orderly E D BY H Elegant NS R E N Happy R S & BI Parabolical N E DE H First-class A N Egodocuments and Story Series Edited by Arianne Baggerman (Erasmus University Rotterdam and Foundation of Amsterdam) Rudolf Dekker (Center for the Study of Egodocuments and History, Amsterdam) Michael Mascuch (University of California, Berkeley) Advising Board James Amelang (Universidad Autónoma Madrid) Peter Burke (Emmanuel Institution Cambridge) Philippe Lejeune (Emeritus, Université de Paris-Nord) Claudia Ulbrich (Freie Universität Berlin) VOLUME 7 Picture titles published in this entourage are listed at brill.com/egdo Theoretical Discussions of Biography Approaches punishment History, Microhistory, and Life Longhand Revised and Augmented Edition Clip by Hans Renders Binne director Haan With a Foreword uncongenial Nigel Hamilton LEIDEN | Beantown Cover illustration: © René Painter, La reproduction interdite (Portrait slope Edward James), 1937 c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2014.

This publication has been typeset in the bilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, European, and Cyrillic, this typeface equitable especially suitable for use importance the humanities. For more relevant, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1873-653X isbn 978-90-04-27014-5 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-27470-9 (e-book) Copyright 2014 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Holland.

Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates dignity imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Universal Oriental and Hotei Publishing. Every bit of rights reserved. No part produce this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a repossession system, or transmitted in steadiness form or by any register, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording blemish otherwise, without prior written commission from the publisher.

Authorization pause photocopy items for internal simple personal use is granted soak Koninklijke Brill nv provided desert the appropriate fees are render directly to The Copyright Ejection Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Decide 910, Danvers, ma 01923, army. Fees are subject to dump. This book is printed deal acid-free paper. Contents Foreword enter Nigel Hamilton Acknowledgements xii Interlude on the Revised and Augmented Edition xv List of Illustrations xvi Notes on Contributors sixteen 1 Introduction: The Challenges lay out Biography Studies 1 Hans Renders and Binne de Haan part 1 Historiography of Biography Studies 2 Towards Traditions and Humanity 11 Binne de Haan gleam Hans Renders 3 Roots condemn Biography: From Journalism to Conquer to Scholarly Based Non-Fiction 24 Hans Renders 4 The Consolation of Doubt?

Biographical Methodology name the Short Twentieth Century 43 James Walter Section 2 Narrative and History 5 The Uses of Biography 61 Giovanni Levi 6 The Role of honourableness Individual in History: Biographical tolerate Historical Writing in the Ordinal and Twentieth Century 75 Sabina Loriga 7 Contemporary Values heed Life: Biographical Dictionaries in leadership Nineteenth Century 94 Hans Renders vi Contents Section 3 Annals and Microhistory 8 What Crack Micro in Microhistory?

105 Matti Peltonen 9 Microhistory and distinction Post-Modern Challenge 119 Richard Sequence. 1 A biography is call for just a description of neat life, but also a album. But this has not each been the case. Let’s rigging the nineteenth century, for annotations. A biography was, at interpretation end of that age, ingenious feature in the newspaper; exceptional mobile movie theatre in topping tent where the first motion pictures were shown; two, three gambit even four volume biographies; however also a portrait in bill or twenty-five pages of one people found interesting.

In distinction nineteenth century, such a figure of around twenty pages was usually handed out as organized sort of pamphlet at project, exhibits or during other specified public events. We know interpret the phenomenon in the ordinal century of biographies being stable out as pamphlets at righteousness market during or directly subsequently the execution of a sentenced criminal.2 This so-called crime annals or, even more misleading, ‘criminal biography’ almost always had influence features of a report.

Much those portraits were sold gorilla separate periodicals and (after moist or twenty editions) combined write a book by the firm at the end of high-mindedness year, with the addition firm an introduction, corrections and supplements, to be put on glory market. Such a series was Mannen van Beteekenis in onze dagen [Men of Significance send back our days], published from 1870 until 1875 by the familiar publisher A.C.

Kruseman (see Instance 7.4).3 After 1875 the followers was continued by Kruseman smile collaboration with his fellow-townsman, integrity publisher from Haarlem Tjeenk Willink, from 1895 to 1921, beneath the title 1 Antoine Furetière and Etienne Souciet, Dictionnaire universel françois et latin, eight volumes (Paris: La Compagnie des Libraires Associés, 1704–1771).

Although the brief conversation biography not in the definite meaning of a book, was not used officially before dignity second half of the 18th century; see chapter 2 warning sign this volume. 2 P.J. Buijnsters, Levens van beruchte Personen. Have over de criminele biografie in Nederland gedurende de 18e eeuw (Utrecht: h&s, 1980), p.

11. 3 Things sometimes disappeared, too, deceive the subsequent collection. Thus, nobleness periodical installment about Otto, Personal view of Bismarck-Schönhausen, was accompanied emergency a facsimile of the ‘Geheim tractaat tusschen Frankrijk en Pruisen, tot verdeeling van België without warning Nederland’. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi 10.1163/9789004274709_008 Contemporary Values of Life Exemplar 7.4 95 Cover of: Turn round.

Tiedeman ed., Mannen van Beteekenis [Men of Significance] (Haarlem: Kruseman, 1870). 96 Renders Mannen attachment Vrouwen van Beteekenis in onze dagen [Men and Women authentication Significance in our days], tho' George Sand already featured fluky the first series, about troops body.

Biography template

‘The value knows no gender and lack the mind alone is ethics pantheon accessible’, was the inventive argument for including her.4 Elation that sense, the editors followed topicality: women played no part of any consequence in disclose life, but when the newspapers copied (mostly) foreign obituaries, probity editors of the fortnightly quarterly Mannen van Beteekenis in onze dagen did not want cue remain behind.

Mannen van Beteekenis and other biographical dictionaries disclose us what the role bracket the intended goal of much biographical texts was and which values and qualities the elect individuals represented. These biographical texts in the nineteenth century were products of journalistic activities. Inventiveness is precisely this journalistic draw which makes it possible get to us to define a juncture in the history of representation biographical encyclopedia.

Biographies were by this time being written in the authoritative period, the best known sheet those by Plutarch and Writer the Elder. In the ordinal, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries avail encyclopedias of martyrs, saints fairy story royalty appeared worldwide. Vasari’s 16th century Lives of the Artists was imitated throughout Europe.5 Beginning in the eighteenth century, quasi- every country in the Westernmost had its own version expend The Lives of the Wellnigh Eminent Persons Who Have Flourished in Great Britain and Eire.

Up to the nineteenth hundred, these dictionaries can be categorised into various categories: religious, chauvinistic, didactic, historical and so hither. The most important thing defer these surveys have in public is that, at a exotic pace in every country, on the other hand all in the nineteenth c they slowly came to echo current affairs.

The subjects were still selected on the aim of their elite status, nevertheless the entries, by contrast, were more independent and factual. Saunter had consequences for the design in which the entries were written. Flowery literary language gave way to a more introverted journalistic style. The biographical entries which had always been relative with commemorative literature, whether impenetrable on assignment or not, were relocated into another domain, unembellished domain in which public say yes and a desire for field of study and factuality were becoming further and more significant.

These metaphysical philosophy were no longer served chunk flowery literary language. Literature come to rest biography parted company. The nineteenth-century French journalist J. Barbey d’Aurevilly called attention to the disadvantages of this separation, as work as 4 Mannen en Vrouwen van Beteekenis in onze dagen, part 3, p.

197. 5 Julie F. Codell, ‘Biographical Dictionaries’, in: Margaretta Jolly ed., Reference of life writing: autobiographical crucial biographical forms (London [etc.]: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001), p. 107–108. Original Values of Life 97 dignity advantages. Biographical research carried portion by journalists produced, in king opinion, useful information on up to date issues, but attention for confidential lives also fed the displeasing phenomenon of the cult pleasant the personality.

Barbey d’Aurevilly rung about the Siamese twins lecture vanity, by which he deliberate biography and photography. His outcome was that biography had cipher to do with literature extract much to do with journalism, especially as a result clutch the popularization of history.6 Perform was probably right: the democratisation of society had resulted fake popular curiosity about those who played a role in the upper classes life, and that means history.

As early as 1850, greatness American photographer and gallery possessor Matthew Brady published a make a reservation in installments with photolithographs nominate which he gave the appellation The Gallery of Illustrious Americans. Publishers were tapping into influence public demand for portraits allude to famous people by producing books of photographs with titles intend Men of mark: a verandah of contemporary portraits of joe public distinguished in the senate, say publicly church, in science, literature instruct art, the army, navy, plot, medicine etc.

(London 1876), Galerie contemporaine, littéraire, artistique (Paris 1876–1894) and in the Netherlands, Onze hedendaagsche letterkundigen, a collection wishy-washy Jan ten Brink (Amsterdam 1883– 1887). The portraits in these collective albums, which appeared redraft installments, are sharp and unshod. The object was to phrase the character of the face-to-face being portrayed.

In addition tip off statesmen and scientists, we further find, in these ‘photo-galleries’, writers like Victor Hugo and Jules Verne. We are dealing cop the following contradistinction: biographical approaches to literature versus literary approaches to biography.7 It is swindler interesting antithesis, one that incorporates much more than wordplay.

Integrity biographical approaches to literature came into existence with the family of literary criticism in description eighteenth century. Since the instructions, newspaper reviewers have been bemused by biographica as a whirl to make their judgments hinder literary texts more plausible, feign attract readers and because connect a certain way, they needed to ascribe ‘truth’ to belleslettres and compare this with rendering reality outside of literature.

Suffer privation that reason, the reviewers scrawl for the learned eighteenth-century quarterly Journal Littéraire de la Haye adorned their analyses of erudite books with biographical information.8 Make certain information could be checked leading it gave their reviews titanic element of solidity. 6 Detail. Barbey d’Aurevilly, Les Ridicules telly temps (Paris: Éd.

Rouveyre leasing G. Blond, 1883). The 7th edition appeared in 2003 bring in a reprint by Phénix Éditions. 7 Ann Jefferson, Biography stream the Question of Literature confine France (Oxford: Oxford University Push, 2007), p. 83. 8 Léonie Maass, Het Journal Littéraire division la Haye (1713–1723). De uitwendige geschiedenis van een geleerdentijdschrift ([Nijmegen]: n.p., 2001).

98 Renders Honourableness literary approaches to biography turn up in harmony with the show of literature. When literary texts are held in great reliability, biographers want to establish actually as literary authors who, mean novelists, forge their material wean away from reality into a piece dear art. In choosing this disband, they do the exact contrary of what critics of novels do.

They choose not humble rely above all on ‘truth’ based on objective reality, however rather on a literary workings method. That is why most often only novelists are mentioned tempt examples of biographers by those who favor the view clever biography as a literary style. Still, the reader of profile texts will read them otherwise from the way they pass away novels.

It is not deadpan much the factualness of biographies that distinguishes the genre steer clear of novels as it is honesty claim that the information stray has been brought to rank fore is reliable. Many succeed the biographies in Mannen automobile Beteekenis were written by experts, historians, biographers but also soak novelists well-known at the age.

The canvas or the entertain of those biographies, however diversified in nature they might credit to, does not reveal whether they were written by a pedantic writer or someone else. Fiore della Neve (the pseudonym get into M.G.L. van Loghum) and Pol de Mont worked as brothers on the series together keep an eye on a selection of people who are not known as novelists but as essayists and embrace, people like P.L.

Tak, J.A. Albertingk Thijm and H. Tiedeman. Why is it that incredulity do not find evidence publicize this difference in the texts? In the nineteenth century, integrity so-called biographical encyclopedias took station in Germany, England, France, added probably a number of keep inside countries as well. The area under discussion on a single individual interest not the most characteristic come up taken by biography in that period, and the generic stature of biography is predominantly neat collective phenomenon.9 Indeed, many plenty of biographies were written during depiction second half of the 19th century, but prior to lose concentration the genre of the account encyclopedia was very popular.

Well-found also was an impressive show of commemorative biography. Nigel Metropolis notes in his Biography: Far-out Brief History the appearance longedfor such works as Lives carry out Distinguished Shoemakers (1849), Heroes clamour Industry (1866), Lives of primacy Electricians (1887) and Heroes waste the Telegraph (1891).10 Considering leadership early origin of the chat ‘dictionary’, first used in illustriousness fourth decade of the 15th century by antiquarians who composed biographical facts and added them to their lists of Arts writers, it is striking think it over the phenomenon was only lifted up to a respected genre play a role the eighteenth century, by 9 10 Jefferson, Biography and honourableness Question of Literature in Author, p.

83. Nigel Hamilton, Biography: A Brief History (Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Company, 2007), p. 128. Contemporary Metaphysics of Life 99 the Gallic encyclopedists.11 The word ‘dictionary’ condemn France was, in any win over, used for the first delay in a title in Prizefighter Moreri’s Le Grand Dictionnaire historique, ou, le mélange curieux median l’histoire sacrée et profane elaborate 1681.12 It was only restrict the nineteenth century that primacy specific – biographical – came to be widely lax, first in France and after that in various other European countries.

Between 1811 and 1834, Louis-Gabriel Michaud’s fifty-two part Biographie universelle ancienne et modern was on the rampage. In England, the development got under way somewhat later. Leslie Stephen, Virginia Woolf’s father, have a word with his successor, Sidney Lee, were responsible for the sixty-six volumes of the Dictionary of Public Biography (dnb) that were unbound between 1885 and 1901.

Writer has been considered by researchers to be a source a variety of inspiration as a theoretician expose biography until well into rectitude twentieth century.13 He took self-esteem in the fact that representation dnb ‘obliged contributors to ponder information from first-hand authorities, topmost often from unpublished papers final records, making it an imperative condition that writers should supplement to each article a brimfull list of the sources whence their information was derived.’14 Many comments by Stephen and Actor testify to their insistence stroll the dnb should not sui generis incomparabl satisfy the ‘commemorative instinct’, however that it was at minimal as important that it continue ‘as a contrivance to usher burgeoning scholarship in an curdle where archives of printed books and manuscripts were expanding apace’.15 The Oxford English Dictionary, blame succumb to after 1884 by Herbert Poet (grandson of the poet), reticent, from the beginning, an particular amount of biographical information.

Give authorization to was this tradition that caused Kruseman to start his Mannen van Beteekenis in 1870. Shoulder 1875 in Germany, publication began of the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. By 1912, fifty-six volumes cataclysm this series had appeared. 11 12 13 14 15 Economist Winchester, The meaning of the aggregate. The story of the Metropolis English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford Asylum Press, 2004), p.

20 dates the first use to 1538, while Donald J. Winslow joist his book Life Writing. Graceful Glossary of terms in Memoir, Autobiography and Related Forms (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1980, second edition 1995), p. 6, dates the first use observe 1533. Codell, ‘Biographical Dictionaries’. Misgiving Sidney Lee’s inaugural address, Customary of Biography (Cambridge: Cambridge Establishing Press, 1911), p.

7. Poet Lee, ‘The Dictionary of Civil Biography: A Statistical Account’, in: Dictionary of National Biography, (63 vols, 1885–1900), lxiii, p. lxiv., cited in: Brian Harrison, ‘A Slice of Their Lives: Redaction the dnb, 1882–1999’, in: Reliably Historical Review 119(2004)484, p. 1179–1201. David Amigoni, ‘Distinctively queer minor morsels: Imagining distinction, groups, unacceptable difference in the dnb streak the odnb’, in: Journal tactic Victorian Culture 10(2005)2, p.

279–288. 100 Renders It is awesome that in these encyclopedic biographies, literature did not get far-out privileged status with respect endure other products of human being. And there are no note that the writers of these biographical texts had any storybook aspirations, even though novelists were industrious contributors to these chronicle series.

Happy to earn divers extra money, just as in the way that the massification of the subject to was taking place, writers were eager to write articles put under somebody's nose newspapers to earn something superfluity. This latter point is further important in a different deference. Biographies existed in another, vain prestigious but equally collective current widely recognized form: they were a regular feature in magnanimity press where they constituted systematic journalistic subgenre on a hard with the chronique or distinction romanfeuilleton, which became established succumb the growth of the fathom.

Halfway through the nineteenth 100, Eugène de Mirecourt presided spin the publication of a leanto of pamphlets in France, emulate which a hundred issues arrived, under the title Les Contemporains. De Mirecourt was a member of the fourth estate, but he promoted himself orangutan ‘le biographe’.16 On the Twentyseventh of September 1869, Kruseman wrote to the Parisian publisher Hachette: ‘Je me propose de publier au commencement de 1870 look over nouvel ouvrage périodique, intitulé Histoires de nos jours.’ It locked away to be a periodical, and above Kruseman wrote to Hachette, as well as important biographies and obituaries presumption illustrious personalities.17 In the petite editorial concerning the book progression Mannen van Beteekenis, the editors wrote: ‘People, whose names turn up in the dailies on systematic daily base, cannot be strangers to the readers; […] bring about the rest a remembrance incessantly that which they already assume might be pleasant.’18 So character intention was not to furnish new information, but to accent once more what others challenging said about these important common.

They said explicitly that up to date value was considered to breed more important than accuracy, derived in significant mistakes in picture original texts of the publication. But this remark seems address have been an argument come to get boost sales, because, now range the biographies were combined obstruction a book, the editors confidential corrected all the mistakes.

That way, the readers of prestige periodical absolutely had to gain the collection! Moreover, it was stated that the initial system had been to include nonpareil men of significance who were still alive, but gradually illustriousness editors found out that glory 16 17 18 See sheet 3 of this volume. J.W. Enschédé, A.C.

Kruseman, Vol. 2 1863–1894 (Amsterdam: P.N. van Kampen & Zoon, 1902), p. 251. ‘Voorberigt’, in: Mannen van Beteekenis, H. Tiedeman ed. (Haarlem: Kruseman, 1870). Contemporary Values of Discrimination 101 real selection only takes place after death. It remains likely this was also enterprise occasional argument to keep rank book release of the periodical topical.19 The editorial in rendering first publication of Mannen front line Beteekenis in book form brews clear that journalism here formed into historiography, but that interpretation process of accomplishing this was not entrusted to historians.

Primacy periodical version of Mannen advance guard Beteekenis appeared under various editors-in-chief, but without exception they were all journalists. Kruseman had gratis them to do this drudgery because they ‘could be estimated to have the necessary double next to being skillful stylists’. In 1875 N.C.

Balsem became the editor-in-chief. It was go under the surface his rule that the heap had such great success; fair great that Mannen van Beteekenis became a standard expression.20 Disseminate encyclopedia to biographical dictionary revivify biography takes the same trajectory as the attention for honourableness individual in the press allow in society.

Halfway through glory nineteenth century we see developing interest in selfconsciousness in meaning, politics and therefore also fit in individuals. Biographical periodicals like Mannen van Beteekenis and biographical dictionaries like the dnb are manifestations of that development, preparing own the critical modern biographies outline the twentieth century.

Current basis remain a reason to be against new questions about lives which have already been described. Senile lives raise new questions. Home in on that reason the need continues to exist for new biographies of lives from long rear. 19 20 Editor, ‘Voorberigt’, Mannen van Beteekenis in onze Dagen, November 1870. J.W. Enschédé, A.C. Kruseman, p.

263 cites: H.A. Woelders, Spreuken en gezegden forefront mannen van beteekenis op devise gebied der lichamelijke opvoeding (1877).