Types of biography in literature

What is autobiography in literature
Biography definition and examples
What is memoir in literature

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biography

What Is Biography? Definition, Usage, and Literary Examples

Biography Definition

A biography (BYE-og-ruh-fee) is a written account of one person’s life authored by another person. A biography includes all pertinent details from the subject’s life, typically arranged in a chronological order. The word biography stems from the Latin biographia, which succinctly explains the word’s definition: bios = “life” + graphia = “write.”

Since the advent of the written word, historical writings have offered information about real people, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that biographies evolved into a separate literary genre. Autobiographies and memoirs fall under the broader biography genre, but they are distinct literary forms due to one key factor: the subjects themselves write these works. Biographies are popular source materials for documentaries, television shows, and motion pictures.

The History of Biographies

The biography form has its roots in Ancient Rome and Greece. In 44 BCE, Roman writer C

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Literature and Biography (1923)

Tomashevsky, Boris. "Literature and Biography (1923)". Biography in Theory: Key Texts with Commentaries, edited by Wilhelm Hemecker and Edward Saunders, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2017, pp. 83-90. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110516678-017

Tomashevsky, B. (2017). Literature and Biography (1923). In W. Hemecker & E. Saunders (Ed.), Biography in Theory: Key Texts with Commentaries (pp. 83-90). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110516678-017

Tomashevsky, B. 2017. Literature and Biography (1923). In: Hemecker, W. and Saunders, E. ed. Biography in Theory: Key Texts with Commentaries. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 83-90. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110516678-017

Tomashevsky, Boris. "Literature and Biography (1923)" In Biography in Theory: Key Texts with Commentaries edited by Wilhelm Hemecker and Edward Saunders, 83-90. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110516678-017

Tomashevsky B. Literature and Biography (1923). In: Hemecker W, Saunders E (ed.) Biography in Theory: Key Texts with Commenta

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Biography in literature

When studying literature, biography and its relationship to literature is often a subject of literary criticism, and is treated in several different forms. Two scholarly approaches use biography or biographical approaches to the past as a tool for interpreting literature: literary biography and biographical criticism. Conversely, two genres of fiction rely heavily on the incorporation of biographical elements into their content: biographical fiction and autobiographical fiction.

Literary biography

A literary biography is the biographical exploration of individuals' lives merging historical facts with the conventions of narrative.^[1] Biographies about artists and writers are sometimes some of the most complicated forms of biography.^[2] Not only does the author of the biography have to write about the subject of the biography but also must incorporate discussion of the subject-author's literary works into the biography itself.^[2]^[3] Literary biographers must balance the weight of commentary on the subj