Description
Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1989. In this companion volume to the acclaimed Pure Lives, Reed Whittemore probes the often-complex motives behind the relationships of modern biographers to their subjects. Whittemore's description of biography's uneven path toward comprehensive character study begins with Thomas Carlyle, whose biography of Frederick the Great broke with tradition by tracing the roots of its subject's character to childhood trauma. (A strict disciplinarian, Frederick's father once considered having his rebellious teenage son executed.) Whittemore examines the work of Leslie Stephen, the Dictionary of National Biography's first editor, who admired Carlyle but disliked his styleand was convinced that Carlyle disliked him. And in a chapter on Sigmund Freud, Whittemore traces the revolution in writing biography that began with Freud's speculations on the nature and origin of Leonardo da Vinci's homosexuality. Few have escaped Freud's influence. While Leon Edel argues that biograph
Trade ReviewNot only captures the ambiguities inherent in the genre but also demonstrates its potential rewards in a brilliant tour de force, informative, unapologetically opinionated and a pleasure to read.
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New York NewsdayTable of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Carlyle and His Great Men
Chapter 2. Leslie S tephen's DNB and the Woolf Rejoinders
Chapter 3. Sigmund Freud and His Disciples
Chapter 4. American Biography
Notes
Readings
Index
