BIOLOGICAL

CRITICISM
 BIOLOGICAL CRITICISM

Biographical criticism is a form of literary criticism which

analyzes a writer's biography to show the relationship
between the author's life and their works of literature.It is
often associated with historical-biographical criticism, a
critical method that "sees a literary work chiefly, if not
exclusively, as a reflection of its author's life and times".
FIVE TYPES OF
BIOGRAPHICAL
CRITICISM
 SCHOLARLY
CHRONICLE
The scholarly chronicle is the most
fundamental (and common) type of
biographical research with its focus on the
historical portrayal of an individual life.
 INTELLECTUAL
BIOGRAPHY
Intellectual biography describes a certain style of
inquiry or a. quality of biographical analysis. The
intellectual biographer is like the. intellectual
historian, but he focuses on the history of an
individual's. mind, thoughts, and ideas as a means
toward illuminating the subject's.
 SCHOLARLY
CHRONICLE
Life writing is an expansive genre that
primarily deals with the purposeful recording
of personal memories, experiences, opinions,
and emotions for different ends.
 MEMOIR
BIOGRAPHY

A memoir is any nonfiction narrative

writing based in the author's personal
memories. The assertions made in the
work are thus understood to be factual.
 NARRATIVE
BIOGRAPHY
A biographical narrative is a nonfiction account of life.
In this type of writing, the description of a person is
through the eyes of the writer. This type of narrative
writing relies on concrete details, images, spoken
words, sensory description, and actions.
 Why biographical criticism is important?
Biography is one of the most important areas of study in
our school. We believe that by studying the lives of other
people, we can learn more about ourselves and how we
fit into the world around us. We learn about how to live a
good life by looking at those whose lives were exemplary,
and we learn how to make a difference in the world by
seeing how others have done it.
How does biographical criticism works?
The writer creates a literary text of someone’s
life,the subject of of the biography personal
character or a role adopted by an author
,biographical criticism emphasizes the
relationship between the author and his/her
literary work.
What is the importance of writing biography?

Biography is important because it helps you

understand what life was like for someone else and
how they overcame challenges.
Biography also helps you understand how your own
life has changed over time and what experiences
have shaped you as a person.
 To guide through biographical criticism,
we often focus on these questions:

How does the author’s life relate to the story?

Are the characters similar to or different from the author?

Which of the author’s experiences appear in the text? To what effect?

How does knowledge about an author’s life affect a reader’s

understanding of the text?
 Advantages of Biographical
Criticism
It helps the reader to understand elements the author uses in
his work, such aswords, allusions, themes, characters...etc.

It helps the reader to understand elements the author uses in

his work, such aswords, allusions, themes, characters...etc.

It helps the reader to discover the author's audience and

intention.
 Disadvantages of Biographical Criticism
The author's life is not necessarily the same as the work's
contents.(reliance of the source material)

Unsound sources of information about the author's life.

Literary work should be studied in conjunction with

author’s life for full meaningand appreciation.-Correlation
of events in the text to the author’s life should be done
carefully.