Description
Book SynopsisTheoretical Discussions of Biography: Approaches from History, Microhistory, and Life Writing offers comprehensive overviews by 14 academic scholars of the actual state of the field of Biography Studies. In the volume, edited by biography scholars Hans Renders and Binne de Haan, specifically the connections between biography and the fields of microhistory, journalism, and Life Writing illuminate key challenges and problems in studying individual lives. Different perspectives are provided on the ways in which biography contributes to scholarship in the humanities in general and academic historiography in particular. The contributing authors are academic experts in these fields and include Richard D. Brown, Carlo Ginzburg, Nigel Hamilton, Marlene Kadar, Giovanni Levi, Sabina Loriga, Matti Peltonen, and James Walter.
Trade Review"Ils entendent explicitement contribuer à l’émergence des études biographiques comme nouvelle discipline à part entière [...] En conclusion, il convient de saluer les grands mérites de cet ouvrage fort bien fait" ("They explicitly intend to contribute to the emergence of Biography Studies as a new discipline in its own right [...] In conclusion, we should acknowledge the great merits of this well-made, strong book." Joanny Moulin, Aix-Marseille Université “Theoretical Discussions of Biography is a welcome addition for university courses on the history and theory of history and surveys of historiography. [...] According to Renders and De Haan, a biography preferably studies a specific figure to test generally recognized truths on a society and culture. Renders elaborates this thesis in his article ‘The limits of representativeness. Biography, Life Writing and Microhistory’ and by doing this also brings together some themes from other contributions. This article provides a practical research agenda for the future.” Christoph De Spiegeleer, Free University of Brussels, in: Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis 10(2013)3, p. 115-116. “In its range and compass Theoretical Discussions of Biography illustrates the new compass and depth which Biographical Studies can offer to teachers, students and practitioners.” Nigel Hamilton, Senior Fellow John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston and first President of Biographers International Organization (BIO) “To take issue with Renders, however, is not to discount his perceptive and wide-ranging contributions to an understanding of biography and biographical method. Only a scholar with formidable learning could have assembled an anthology that is so challenging on so many aspects of biography.” Carl Rollyson, Baruch College New York, in: Biography 36(2013)2, p. 392-395.
Table of ContentsTable of Contents List of Illustrations Foreword Nigel Hamilton Note on the Revised and Augmented Edition Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements 1 Introduction: The Challenges of Biography Studies Hans Renders & Binne de Haan Section I: Historiography of Biography Studies 2 Towards Traditions and Nations Binne de Haan & Hans Renders 3 Roots of Biography: From Journalism to Pulp to Scholarly Based Non-Fiction Hans Renders 4 The Solace of Doubt? Biographical Methodology after the Short Twentieth Century James Walter Section II: Biography and History 5 The Uses of Biography Giovanni Levi 6 The Role of the Individual in History. Biographical and Historical Writing in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Sabina Loriga 7 Contemporary Values of Life. Biographical Dictionaries in the Nineteenth Century Hans Renders Section III: Biography and Microhistory 8 What Is Micro in Microhistory? Matti Peltonen 9 Microhistory and the Post-Modern Challenge Richard D. Brown 10 The Limits of Representativeness. Biography, Life Writing and Microhistory Hans Renders 11 Microhistory: Two or Three Things That I Know about It Carlo Ginzburg Section IV: Biography and Life Writing 12 Biography in Academia and the Critical Frontier in Life Writing: Where Biography Shifts into Life Writing Hans Renders 13 The Eclipse of Biography in Life Writing Binne de Haan 14 Coming to Terms: Life Writing – from Genre to Critical Practice Marlene Kadar Appendices 15 Biography Anonymous 16 Sex in Biography Ernest Boyd 17 The Personal in the Political Biography Hans Renders 18 The Biographical Method Hans Renders 19 Why Genealogy and Biography Are Not Kin Hans Renders 20 A Nobel Prize for Biography Nigel Hamilton Bibliography
