Understanding Biographies
On Biographies in History
and Stories in Biography
Birgitte Possing
Translated from the Danish by Gaye Kynoch
Understanding Biographies
On Biographies in History
and Stories in Biography
University Press of Southern Denmark 2017
© The author and University Press of Southern Denmark 2017
University of Southern Denmark Studies in History and Social Sciences vol 538
Printed by Specialtrykkeriet Viborg A/S
Cover: Donald Jensen, Unisats
Cover photo: Morten Langkilde, Polfoto
ISBN 978 87 7674 992 7
University Press of Southern Denmark
55 Campusvej
DK-5230 Odense M
www.universitypress.dk
Distribution in the United States and Canada:
International Specialized Book Services
5804 NE Hassalo Street
Portland, OR 97213-3644 USA
www.isbs.com
Distribution in the United Kingdom:
Gazelle
White Cross Mills
Hightown
Lancaster
LA1 4 XS
U.K.
www.gazellebookservices.co.uk
Contents
Preface 7
I What is Biography? 11
Where’s the muscle? 11
The biography dies, and is reborn 17
Biographical definitions 22
Biographical relevance and historical weight
of the individual 26
Biographical Gender 37
Who are the biographers – who are their protagonists? 49
Biographical archetypes 68
II Attitudes, Principles, and Critics 87
Conventions and innovations 87
Dusting Down and New Biographies 95
The Elastic Principles of Biography 104
The Biographical Triangle 113
Friend, Enemy, Puppeteer or Ghostwriter 119
III Biographical ethics 127
Where is Privacy 127
A Higher Form of Cannibalism? 132
Tread Softly – For You Tread On My Life 136
Posthumous Privacy 140
Biographical Muscle 145
IV Four biographies, and how they were read,
written and reviewed 151
Four biographies 151
Just for Fun 152
The Tautology of Myth 159
Life caught between light and darkness 166
Who is right: the archive rat or the stylist? 179
V Acknowledgements 195
VI Literature, references, index 197
Literature 197
Journals and Newspapers 205
References 207
Index 228
Preface
Biographies fly off the shelves; many will happily be swallowed
whole. There are nevertheless those who despise the genre. The
history of the biography is as long as that of the world’s sup-
posedly oldest profession, and as writers, critics and readers
our attitude to biographies is much the same as our attitude to
courtesans: we view them with curiosity, attracted and repelled,
but we have very little desire to get any closer. All the same, bi-
ographies are omnipresent in the modern world, and we simply
cannot avoid their gaze or look the other way. The last twenty to
thirty years in particular have seen a biographical renaissance.
The book trade, the entertainment industry and the electronic
media are overflowing with biographies. So there they are – and
so we have to discuss them and understand them. However, even
though each biography is different to the next, we treat them as if
they were the same – we even speak of the biography as a genre.
The biography is indeed a genre, one spanning a number of
radically different types of life-storytelling. Biography can be de-
fined as a genre, a narrative form and an analytic field, but it
cannot be dealt with in the singular if we are to reach an under-
standing of what is actually at work between the book covers.
The biographies we pick up are like bars of soap slipping through
our fingers. Albeit they share the intention of telling the story of
a character, they do so in completely different ways within the
overall genre. How should a biography be ‘read’? Is it the story of
someone else? Is it a fictional oil painting or is it a documentary
pencil sketch? Is it a picture of the period or is it a study of the
personality? Is it a psychological interpretation of human charac-
ter traits or is it an analysis of a famous person from the past and
his or her historical significance? Generally speaking, a biography
does not come down to just the one or the other – it can well em-
brace a little of everything. We think we can pin it down, but we
7
are loath to define it. Often not even the biographer has specified
the type of book that he or she is in the process of writing, or the
style in which they are writing the life to be disclosed.
Understanding Biographies reasons that biography can be de-
fined in quite straightforward terms, while being a genre full of
diversity. There is not just the one, but many ways in which to
approach it – and these approaches can be mapped out. Journal-
ists, authors and academics who embark upon writing a biogra-
phy will quickly discover that the skill required is more complex
than might first be thought. They will also realise that the art of
writing biography is not a simple and straightforward one, be-
cause the task poses more questions than it answers: What is the
specific relevance of this specific person that warrants the writing
of their biography? Who would find it significant, and why? How
shall this life be told? Upon which sources will it be constructed
in order to form an authentic narrative?
Understanding Biographies is a book about how to search for
the answers to such questions. It does not provide a simple an-
swer, because there are numerous ways to work within a genre
that is varied, has a long and wide-ranging tradition around the
world, is governed by a number of conventions and accomplished
in various narrative styles. We devour biographies about all man-
ner of famous people, and yet we are still left with a somewhat
vague idea about the genre as such – because as readers we are
not sure whether we are judging the biography, assessing the bi-
ographer, evaluating the style and form, or passing judgement on
the life of the central character.
Understanding Biographies provides guidelines to an under-
standing of the field, guidelines that can be consulted by biog-
raphers, readers and reviewers. It shows how we can construe
the biography both in a straightforward and in a nuanced way,
as a genre and as an analytic field spanning various quite specific
approaches. The book tells the story of why the biography is an
ancient genre with a gender imbalance – a disproportion the gen-
re has recently tried to re-balance – and how that state of affairs
came about. It tells how the genre has its own history and its
own well-tried archetypes. The book argues that biographies take
8
shape according to the person being portrayed, the material used
to tell their story, the questions the biographer poses of this ma-
terial, and the theories applied to the task. Understanding Biog-
raphies discusses examples of successful as well as less successful
biographies, and lays out the critical tools we can use to evaluate
a biography. It is not, however, a cookery book with just the one
recipe for ‘how to write a biography’.
The aim of Understanding Biographies is to uncover the essence
of biography. Biography should be seen as an important compo-
nent of our cultural heritage and history, and as a genre it has its
own history, critique and ethics – but this total package seems
to be something of an enigma, and I shall remove some of the
wrapping. There is both a general and a professionally specific
perspective to this. Seen in a broad perspective, we have a market
abounding in biographies, which readers devour and the media
love; seen in a specific professional perspective, however, review-
ers and academics still show some disinclination for the genre
and might therefore adopt a somewhat patronising attitude. This
paradox has sent the biographical genre into a strange disputed
theoretical territory. Is biography not a genre? Indeed it is; a genre
that can be defined in its own right, and one that differs from the
autobiography, the conversation book, the memoir and the novel.
This is the contention of Understanding Biographies, and I shall
therefore concentrate on biography, leaving aside autobiography,
memoir and fictionalised biography. I see interest in biography
as an element of democratisation in a globalised community. By
means of biography we give increasing numbers of individuals a
place in history, a voice, visibility and a contemporary response,
which can in turn make us think about what we as individuals
can contribute to, learn from, live with or change in the culture of
which we are a part. The biographical renaissance is completely
in keeping with the individualising zeitgeist we have lived with
since the recent millennial shift, and it is a logical consequence
of the late-twentieth-century collapse of the grand ideologies.
Through biographies we take our bearings in the specific human
life and longing, success or failure, visions, dreams and hopes. We
should therefore also give biography its due respect by defining
9
and analysing the historical biography as genre and by presenting
some devices by means of which to understand its gender, arche-
types, narrative traditions, critique and ethics.
Understanding Biographies identifies the traditions that have
long been applied in international writing and reading of biogra-
phy, and reflects on the rethinking of biographies during the last
thirty years.
In 2015, I wrote Ind i biografien, a book in Danish presenting
the international genre of ‘biography’ to Scandinavian scholars
and general readers. Understanding Biographies is a revised and
translated version of that work – and through it and with the ide-
as presented here, I wish to express my gratitude to colleagues,
friends and biographers from many countries for the inspiration
they have offered me over the years.
10
