Professional Documents
Culture Documents
stor
ical
Biographyi ssomet i
mesr egar dedasabr anchofhi story,andear l
ierbiographical writ
ings—such
asthe15t h-centuryMémoi r
esoft heFr enchcouncel lorofst ate,Phi l
ippedeCommy nes, or
GeorgeCav endish’s16t h-
centur ylif
eofThomasCar dinal Wol sey—hav eoftenbeent r
eatedas
hist
oricalmat eri
al rathert hanasl i
terarywor ksi ntheirownr ight.Someent ri
esi nancient
Chinesechr oniclesi ncludedbi ogr aphicalsket ches; i
mbeddedi nt heRomanhi stori
anTaci tus’s
Annalsist hemostf amousbi ographyoft heemper orTiber i
us; conv ersel
y,SirWi nston
Churchill
’
smagni f
icentl if
eofhi sancest orJohnChur chill
,fi
rstdukeofMar l
bor ough,canbe
readasahi story(wr it
tenf rom aspeci alpointofv iew)ofBr it
ai nandmuchofEur opedur i
ngt he
Waroft heSpani shSuccessi on( 1701–14) .Yett herei sgener al r
ecogni ti
ont odayt hathistory
andbi ographyar equi tedi sti
nctf ormsofl i
terature.Hi storyusual lydealsingener ali
zati
ons
aboutaper i
odoft i
me( forexampl e, t
heRenai ssance) ,aboutagr oupofpeopl ei ntime( the
Engli
shcol oniesi nNor thAmer i
ca) ,aboutani nst i
tuti
on( monast icism duringt heMi ddleAges) .
Biographymor et y
pi cal
lyf ocusesuponasi ngl ehumanbei nganddeal sint hepar ti
cularsoft hat
person’slif
e.
Bothbiographyandhi st
ory,
howev er
,areoftenconcernedwiththepast,anditisinthehunti
ng
down, eval
uati
ng,andselecti
onofsourcesthattheyareakin.Inthissensebiographycanbe
regardedasacr aftr
athert
hananar t:t
echniquesofresearchandgener alr
ulesfortesti
ng
evidencecanbel ear
nedbyany oneandt husneedinvolvecompar ati
vel
yli
ttl
eoft hatper
sonal
commi tmentassociatedwithart
.
Psy
chol
ogi
cal
Assembli
ngast r
ingoff actsinchronologicalorderdoesnotconst i
tutethel i
feofaper son; it
onl
ygivesanoutli
neofev ent
s.Thebi ographerthereforeseekstoelicitfr
om hi smaterialsthe
motiv
esforhissubject’
sact i
onsandt odi scovertheshapeofhi spersonal i
ty.Thebiogr apher
whohasknownhi ssubj ectinli
feenjoystheadv antageofhi sowndi rectimpr essi
ons,of ten
for
ti
fi
edbywhatt hesubj ecthashimsel freveal
edi nconversat
ions,andofhi shav i
ngl i
vedi nthe
sameera(thusavoidingthepitfal
l
si ndepi ct
ingdistantcentur
ies)
.Butont hedebitside, sucha