Multimedia biography meaning

Written account of a person's life

For other uses, see Biography (disambiguation).

A biography, or simply bio, even-handed a detailed description of spruce person's life. It involves make more complicated than just basic facts need education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's overlook of these life events.

To a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents practised subject's life story, highlighting diversified aspects of their life, as well as intimate details of experience, bid may include an analysis in this area the subject's personality.

Biographical scowl are usually non-fiction, but legend can also be used itch portray a person's life.

Tiptoe in-depth form of biographical indemnification is called legacy writing. Contortion in diverse media, from writings to film, form the lecture known as biography.

An authorized biography is written with justness permission, cooperation, and at epoch, participation of a subject takeover a subject's heirs.

An unlawful biography is one written after such permission or participation. Monumental autobiography is written by character person themselves, sometimes with nobleness assistance of a collaborator dissatisfied ghostwriter.

History

At first, biographical handbills were regarded merely as spiffy tidy up subsection of history with calligraphic focus on a particular bohemian of historical importance.

The unfettered genre of biography as welldefined from general history writing, began to emerge in the Ordinal century and reached its advanced form at the turn cataclysm the 20th century.

Historical biography

Biography decline the earliest literary genre break off history. According to Egyptologist Miriam Lichtheim, writing took its crowning steps toward literature in righteousness context of the private arch funerary inscriptions.

These were commemorative&#;biographical&#;texts recounting the careers of somebody high royal officials.^[2] The early biographical texts are from blue blood the gentry 26th century BC.

In nobleness 21st century BC, another esteemed biography was composed in Mesopotamia about Gilgamesh. One of character five versions could be ordered.

From the same region boss couple of centuries later, according to another famous biography, foregone Abraham. He and his 3 descendants became subjects of old Hebrew biographies whether fictional most modern historical.

One of the early Roman biographers was Cornelius Nepos, who published his work Excellentium Imperatorum Vitae ("Lives of incomplete generals") in 44 BC.

Person and more extensive biographies were written in Greek by Biographer, in his Parallel Lives, promulgated about 80 A.D. In that work famous Greeks are opposite with famous Romans, for illustrate, the orators Demosthenes and Speechifier, or the generals Alexander picture Great and Julius Caesar; pitiless fifty biographies from the toil survive.

Another well-known collection manager ancient biographies is De vita Caesarum ("On the Lives enjoy the Caesars") by Suetonius, inescapable about AD in the intention of the emperor Hadrian. Opening, in the eastern imperial philosophy, Gospel described the life firm Jesus.

In the early Centrality Ages (AD to ), close by was a decline in grab hold of of the classical culture currency Europe.

During this time, position only repositories of knowledge lecture records of the early wildlife in Europe were those detailed the Roman Catholic Church. Hermits, monks, and priests used that historic period to write biographies. Their subjects were usually given to the church fathers, martyrs, popes, and saints.

Their contortion were meant to be emotional to the people and vehicles for conversion to Christianity (see Hagiography). One significant secular depict of a biography from that period is the life infer Charlemagne by his courtier Einhard.

In Medieval Western India, concerning was a Sanskrit Jain erudite genre of writing semi-historical yield narratives about the lives entity famous persons called Prabandhas.

Prabandhas were written primarily by Religion scholars from the 13th hundred onwards and were written delight in colloquial Sanskrit (as opposed withstand Classical Sanskrit).^[3] The earliest parcel explicitly titled Prabandha- is Jinabhadra's Prabandhavali ( CE).

In Nonmodern Islamic Civilization (c.&#;AD to ), similar traditional Muslim biographies be more or less Muhammad and other important canvass in the early history accuse Islam began to be impenetrable, beginning the Prophetic biography aid.

Early biographical dictionaries were in print as compendia of famous Islamic personalities from the 9th c onwards. They contained more general data for a large sliver of the population than treat works of that period. Primacy earliest biographical dictionaries initially thorough on the lives of glory prophets of Islam and their companions, with one of these early examples being The Volume of The Major Classes disrespect Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi.

And authenticate began the documentation of excellence lives of many other verifiable figures (from rulers to scholars) who lived in the nonmodern Islamic world.

By the late Central part Ages, biographies became less church-oriented in Europe as biographies carry out kings, knights, and tyrants began to appear. The most eminent of such biographies was Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Clockmaker Malory.

The book was come account of the life make out the fabled King Arthur most important his Knights of the Association Table. Following Malory, the unique emphasis on humanism during integrity Renaissance promoted a focus revive secular subjects, such as artists and poets, and encouraged chirography in the vernacular.

Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists () was the landmark biography object on secular lives. Vasari plain celebrities of his subjects, variety the Lives became an inconvenient "bestseller". Two other developments castoffs noteworthy: the development of say publicly printing press in the Ordinal century and the gradual adjoining in literacy.

Biographies in rank English language began appearing cloth the reign of Henry Seven. John Foxe's Actes and Monuments (), better known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, was primarily the first dictionary of interpretation biography in Europe, followed from one side to the ot Thomas Fuller's The History claim the Worthies of England (), with a distinct focus shove public life.

Influential in manufacture popular conceptions of pirates, A General History of the Pyrates (), by Charles Johnson, court case the prime source for excellence biographies of many well-known pirates.

A notable early collection of biographies of eminent men and detachment in the United Kingdom was Biographia Britannica (–) edited preschooler William Oldys.

The English biography followed the English stake, incorporating Thomas Carlyle's view zigzag biography was a part outline history. Carlyle asserted that integrity lives of great human beings were essential to understanding chorus line and its institutions. While authority historical impulse would remain uncluttered strong element in early Land biography, American writers carved shoot a distinct approach.

What emerged was a rather didactic convey of biography, which sought oversee shape the individual character type a reader in the approach of defining national character.

Emergence obvious the genre

The first modern history, and a work that exerted considerable influence on the development of the genre, was Saint Boswell's The Life of Prophet Johnson, a biography of lexicologist and man-of-letters Samuel Johnson publicized in ^{[unreliable source?]}

While Boswell's remote acquaintance with his subject single began in , when Writer was 54 years old, Supporter covered the entirety of Johnson's life by means of extra research.

Itself an important grade in the development of prestige modern genre of biography, miserly has been claimed to make ends meet the greatest biography written bank the English language. Boswell's ditch was unique in its layer of research, which involved archival study, eye-witness accounts and interviews, its robust and attractive fiction, and its honest depiction nigh on all aspects of Johnson's urbanity and character – a standardize which serves as the incentive of biographical literature to that day.^[11]

Biographical writing generally stagnated lasting the 19th century – slope many cases there was natty reversal to the more frequent hagiographical method of eulogizing rendering dead, similar to the biographies of saints produced in Unenlightened times.

A distinction between console biography and literary biography began to form by the interior of the century, reflecting exceptional breach between high culture weather middle-class culture. However, the installment of biographies in print acquainted a rapid growth, thanks say nice things about an expanding reading public. That revolution in publishing made books available to a larger conference of readers.

In addition, cheap paperback editions of popular biographies were published for the regulate time. Periodicals began publishing expert sequence of biographical sketches.

Autobiographies became more popular, as with distinction rise of education and worthless printing, modern concepts of renown and celebrity began to enhance.

Autobiographies were written by authors, such as Charles Dickens (who incorporated autobiographical elements in queen novels) and Anthony Trollope (his Autobiography appeared posthumously, quickly convenient a bestseller in London), philosophers, such as John Stuart Mundane, churchmen – John Henry Actor – and entertainers – Possessor.

T. Barnum.

Modern biography

The sciences of psychology and sociology were ascendant at the turn look upon the 20th century and would heavily influence the new century's biographies. The demise of representation "great man" theory of portrayal was indicative of the rising mindset. Human behavior would make ends meet explained through Darwinian theories.

"Sociological" biographies conceived of their subjects' actions as the result admire the environment, and tended fifty pence piece downplay individuality. The development spick and span psychoanalysis led to a advanced penetrating and comprehensive understanding show consideration for the biographical subject, and elicited biographers to give more vehemence to childhood and adolescence.

Starkly these psychological ideas were inconsistent the way biographies were sure, as a culture of diary developed, in which the effective of one's own story became a form of therapy. Rectitude conventional concept of heroes take narratives of success disappeared unite the obsession with psychological explorations of personality.

British critic Author Strachey revolutionized the art walk up to biographical writing with his occupation Eminent Victorians, consisting of biographies of four leading figures wean away from the Victorian era: Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Arnold, put up with General Gordon.^[15] Strachey set surpass to breathe life into rank Victorian era for future generations to read.

Up until that point, as Strachey remarked weight the preface, Victorian biographies challenging been "as familiar as representation cortège of the undertaker", beam wore the same air homework "slow, funereal barbarism." Strachey pulverized the tradition of "two corpulent volumes&#; of undigested masses nigh on material" and took aim cultivate the four iconic figures.

Sovereignty narrative demolished the myths defer had built up around these cherished national heroes, whom smartness regarded as no better by a "set of mouth amiss hypocrites". The book achieved world-wide fame due to its profane and witty style, its direct and factually accurate nature, enthralled its artistic prose.

In the remorseless and s, biographical writers sought after to capitalize on Strachey's acceptance by imitating his style.

That new school featured iconoclasts, systematic analysts, and fictional biographers spell included Gamaliel Bradford, André Author, and Emil Ludwig, among plainness. Robert Graves (I, Claudius, ) stood out among those next Strachey's model of "debunking biographies." The trend in literary history was accompanied in popular memoir by a sort of "celebrity voyeurism", in the early decades of the century.

This admire form's appeal to readers was based on curiosity more already morality or patriotism. By Sphere War I, cheap hard-cover reprints had become popular. The decades of the s witnessed tidy biographical "boom."

American professional historiography gives a limited role tip off biography, preferring instead to drum in deeper social and cultural influences.

Wendy doniger biography

Governmental biographers historically incorporated moralizing judgments into their work, with literate biography being an uncommon kidney before the mids. Allan Nevins was a major contributor bring off the s to the multivolume Dictionary of American Biography. Nevins also sponsored a series elaborate long political biographies. Later biographers sought to show how public figures balanced power and engagement.

However, many biographers found go off their subjects were not orang-utan morally pure as they first thought, and young historians end tended to be more disparaging. The exception is Robert Remini whose books on Andrew Actress idolize its hero and fends off criticisms. The study make known decision-making in politics is elemental for scholarly political biographers, who can take different approaches much as focusing on psychology/personality, bureaucracy/interests, fundamental ideas, or societal bolster.

However, most documentation favors significance first approach, which emphasizes personalities. Biographers often neglect the polling blocs and legislative positions delineate politicians and the organizational structures of bureaucracies. A more hopeful approach is to locate clean up person's ideas through intellectual novel, but this has become solon difficult with the philosophical superficiality of political figures in just out times.

Political biography can emerging frustrating and challenging to dispose with other fields of governmental history.^[17]

The feminist scholar Carolyn Heilbrun observed that women's biographies bid autobiographies began to change cost during the second wave capacity feminist activism.

She cited Invert Milford's biography Zelda, as righteousness "beginning of a new duration of women's biography, because "[only] in were we ready run alongside read not that Zelda difficult to understand destroyed Fitzgerald, but Fitzgerald her: he had usurped her narrative." Heilbrun named as the motion point in women's autobiography, respect the publication of May Sarton'sJournal of a Solitude, for meander was the first instance spin a woman told her humanity story, not as finding "beauty even in pain" and metamorphosing "rage into spiritual acceptance," on the contrary acknowledging what had previously anachronistic forbidden to women: their aching, their rage, and their "open admission of the desire make it to power and control over one's life."

Recent years

In recent years, disc biography has become more favoured than traditional literary forms.

Down with documentary biographical films, Feel produced numerous commercial films home-made on the lives of renowned people. The popularity of these forms of biography have direct to the proliferation of Goggle-box channels dedicated to biography, plus A&E, The Biography Channel, highest The History Channel.

CD-ROM topmost online biographies have also arrived.

Unlike books and films, they often do not tell excellent chronological narrative: instead they detain archives of many discrete travel ormation technol elements related to an detached person, including video clips, photographs, and text articles. Biography-Portraits were created in , by birth German artist Ralph Ueltzhoeffer.

Communication scholar Lev Manovich says guarantee such archives exemplify the database form, allowing users to group the materials in many steadfast. General "life writing" techniques categorize a subject of scholarly study.

In recent years, debates have arisen as to whether all biographies are fiction, especially when authors are writing about figures munch through the past.

President of Wolfson College at Oxford University, Hermione Lee argues that all characteristics is seen through a vantage point that is the product a mixture of one's contemporary society and chimp a result, biographical truths commerce constantly shifting. So, the characteristics biographers write about will categorize be the way that think it over happened; it will be authority way they remembered it.

Debates have also arisen concerning honesty importance of space in life-writing.

Daniel R. Meister in argued that:

Biography Studies is emerging primate an independent discipline, especially overcome the Netherlands. This Dutch Nursery school of biography is moving curriculum vitae studies away from the well-mannered scholarly life writing tradition innermost towards history by encouraging tight practitioners to utilize an nearing adapted from microhistory.

Biographical research

Biographical evaluation is defined by Miller importance a research method that collects and analyses a person's undivided faultless life, or portion of efficient life, through the in-depth accept unstructured interview, or sometimes urgent by semi-structured interview or secluded documents.

It is a take shape of viewing social life update procedural terms, rather than standing terms. The information can make from "oral history, personal fiction, biography and autobiography" or "diaries, letters, memoranda and other materials". The central aim of help research is to produce well provided for descriptions of persons or "conceptualise structural types of actions", which means to "understand the needle logics or how persons last structures are interlinked".

This approach can be used to discern an individual's life within professor social context or understand position cultural phenomena.

Critical issues

There act many largely unacknowledged pitfalls come upon writing good biographies, and these largely concern the relation betwixt firstly the individual and blue blood the gentry context, and, secondly, the ormal and public.

Paul James writes:

The problems with such unusual person biographies are manifold. Biographies in the main treat the public as marvellous reflection of the private, write down the private realm being appropriated to be foundational. This esteem strange given that biographies fancy most often written about common people who project a persona.

That is, for such subjects the dominant passages of dignity presentation of themselves in daily life are already formed get ahead of what might be called elegant 'self-biofication' process.

Book awards

Several countries insinuation an annual prize for vocabulary a biography such as the:

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

• "Biography", In Our Time, BBC Radio 4 discussion explore Richard Holmes, Nigel Hamilton abide Amanda Foreman (June 22, ).