Biography: A User's Guide

Biography: A User's Guide
by Carl Rollyson

Biography: A User's Guide
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Book Summary Information

Author: Carl Rollyson
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-09
ISBN: 1566637805
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher

Book Reviews of Biography: A User's Guide

Book Review: Incredibly useful--and fun to read.
Summary: 5 Stars

Biographer Rollyson shares his experience and insights in yet another fine contribution to the study of biography (check out all of his books, especially Biography: An Annotated Bibliography and A Higher Form of Cannibalism? Adventures in the Art and Politics of Biography). Writers, readers, students, and teachers (that's me) of biography will benefit from the clear, intuitive organization: entries include important biographers (e.g., Lytton Strachey, Samuel Johnson), types and periods (e.g., Psychobiography, Latin/Medieval Biography), and issues pertaining to the craft itself (e.g., Fair Use, Gossip). The entries are informative on their own, but Rollyson also points out further reading. He is a very generous scholar.

In addition to being too useful to pass up, Biography: A User's Guide is, like all of Rollyson's work, fun to read for its own sake. You will be hooked after opening it up and reading just one entry.

Summary of Biography: A User's Guide

Carl Rollyson's Biography: A User's Guide is an informative and entertaining text for those interested in biography. No aspect of the genre, from A to Z, goes uncovered: issues around authorized and unauthorized biography, censorship, libel, fair use, public domain (referred to as PD by publishers and editors), and a great deal more-including examples drawn from published biographies, as well as general and specific assessments of the biographer's art.

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