AboutHi

stor
ical
book

Biographyi ssomet i
mesr egar dedasabr anchofhi story,andear l
ierbiographical writ
ings—such
asthe15t h-centuryMémoi r
esoft heFr enchcouncel lorofst ate,Phi l
ippedeCommy nes, or
GeorgeCav endish’s16t h-
centur ylif
eofThomasCar dinal Wol sey—hav eoftenbeent r
eatedas
hist
oricalmat eri
al rathert hanasl i
terarywor ksi ntheirownr ight.Someent ri
esi nancient
Chinesechr oniclesi ncludedbi ogr aphicalsket ches; i
mbeddedi nt heRomanhi stori
anTaci tus’s
Annalsist hemostf amousbi ographyoft heemper orTiber i
us; conv ersel
y,SirWi nston
Churchill
’
smagni f
icentl if
eofhi sancest orJohnChur chill
,fi
rstdukeofMar l
bor ough,canbe
readasahi story(wr it
tenf rom aspeci alpointofv iew)ofBr it
ai nandmuchofEur opedur i
ngt he
Waroft heSpani shSuccessi on( 1701–14) .Yett herei sgener al r
ecogni ti
ont odayt hathistory
andbi ographyar equi tedi sti
nctf ormsofl i
terature.Hi storyusual lydealsingener ali
zati
ons
aboutaper i
odoft i
me( forexampl e, t
heRenai ssance) ,aboutagr oupofpeopl ei ntime( the
Engli
shcol oniesi nNor thAmer i
ca) ,aboutani nst i
tuti
on( monast icism duringt heMi ddleAges) .
Biographymor et y
pi cal
lyf ocusesuponasi ngl ehumanbei nganddeal sint hepar ti
cularsoft hat
person’slif
e.

Abi ogr apheri npur suitofani ndiv i

dual l
ongdeadi susual l
yhamper edbyal ackofsour ces: i
tis
ofteni mpossi blet ocheckorv erif
ywhatwr i
ttenev idencet hereis;ther ear enowi tnessest o
cross- exami ne.Nomet hodhasy etbeendev elopedbywhi cht oov er comesuchpr oblems.Each
l
ife, howev er,pr esent si tsownoppor tuniti
esaswel lasspeci f
icdifficultiestothebi ographer :the
i
ngenui tywithwhi cht hebi ogr apherhandl esgapsi nt her ecord—bypr ov i
dinginformat i
on, for
exampl e,aboutt heaget hatcast sli
ghtupont hesubj ect—hasmucht odowi t
ht hequal ityofthe
resul t
ingwor k.JamesBoswel l knewcompar at i
velylittl
eaboutSamuel Johnson’ sear l
i
ery ears;
i
tisoneoft hegr eatnessesofhi sLifeofSamuel JohnsonLL. D.( 1791)t hathesucceeded,
withouti nvent ingmat terordecei vi
ngt her eader ,i
ngi v i
ngt hesenseofal if
eprogr essively
unf olding.Anot hermast erpieceofr econst ructionint hef aceofl itt
leev i
dencei sA. J.A.Sy mons’
biogr aphyoft heEngl ishaut horandeccent r
icFr ederickWi l
li
am Rol fe, TheQuestf orCor vo
(1934) .Af urtherdi ff
icul t
yi st heunr eliabil
ityofmostcol lecti
onsofpaper s,l
ett
ers, andot her
memor abil
iaedi tedbef oret he20t hcent ury.Notonl ydidedi torsfeel fr
eet oomi tandt ranspose
mat eri
als,butsomet imest heaut horsofdocument sr evi
sedt heirper sonal wri
ti
ngsf ort he
benef itofpost er i
ty,oftenf al sifyi
ngt her ecordandpr esent i
ngt heirbi ographerswi thadi ffi
cult
situationwhent heor i
gi nalswer enol ongerext ant.

Thebi ographerwri
ti
ngt helif
eofapersonr ecentl
ydeadi soft
enf acedwiththeopposite
problem:anabundanceofl iv
ingwit
nessesandapl et
horaofmat erial
s,whichincl
udethe
subject’
spaper sandletter
s,someti
mest ranscri
pti
onsoft el
ephoneconv ersat
ionsand
conferences,aswellast herecor
dofinter
v i
ewsgr antedtothebiographerbythesubject’
s
fr
iendsandassoci ates.FrankFri
edel
,forexample, i
ncreati
ngabi ographyoftheU.S.presi
dent
FranklinD.Roosevel
t,hadtowr estl
ewithsomet hingli
ke40tonsofpaper.Butfinal
l
y,when
writ
ingt hel
if
eofanyper son,whetherlongorrecent l
ydead,t
hebiogr
apher’schiefr
esponsibil
it
y
i
sv igorousl
ytotestt
heaut hentici
tyofthecol
lectedmat er
ial
sbywhateverrulesandtechniques
areav ail
abl
e.Whenthesubj ectofabiographyisst i
l
lali
veandacontri
butortothewor k,
the
bi
ogr apher’
staskist
oexami nethesubject
’sperspectiv
eagainstmul
ti
ple,evencontradi
ctory
sources.

Psy
chol
ogi
cal

Assembli
ngast r
ingoff actsinchronologicalorderdoesnotconst i
tutethel i
feofaper son; it
onl
ygivesanoutli
neofev ent
s.Thebi ographerthereforeseekstoelicitfr
om hi smaterialsthe
motiv
esforhissubject’
sact i
onsandt odi scovertheshapeofhi spersonal i
ty.Thebiogr apher
whohasknownhi ssubj ectinli
feenjoystheadv antageofhi sowndi rectimpr essi
ons,of ten
for
ti
fi
edbywhatt hesubj ecthashimsel freveal
edi nconversat
ions,andofhi shav i
ngl i
vedi nthe
sameera(thusavoidingthepitfal
l
si ndepi ct
ingdistantcentur
ies)
.Butont hedebitside, sucha