tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post8494468452197440236..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: One of the sweeter satisfactions of literary biography - I should try to write a less rambling post sometimeAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-67060232884806441822012-06-08T19:23:39.436-05:002012-06-08T19:23:39.436-05:00I should write more sloppy, rambling posts, I gues...I should write more sloppy, rambling posts, I guess. They get such good responses. I wish there were an option by which I could move the comments above the post.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-20986361302384432852012-06-08T14:37:02.811-05:002012-06-08T14:37:02.811-05:00Those biographies I have liked have been almost ex...Those biographies I have liked have been almost exclusively literary ones, and I liked them mostly for this exact reason. The last one I read was Robert Greenfield's terrific bio of Frederick Prokosch. Literary <i>auto</i>biographies are perhaps even more intriguing in this way, since the author is almost invariably selectively revising his or her history, on occasion to the point of attempting to rehabilitate a reputation.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-19201562322975480882012-06-08T13:05:10.481-05:002012-06-08T13:05:10.481-05:00I read biographies to see the writer die, and ever...I read biographies to see the writer die, and everything up to that is a horrifying prelude.Umbagollahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-5965112553013731852012-06-08T11:20:06.999-05:002012-06-08T11:20:06.999-05:00Perhaps that's why I like literary biographies...Perhaps that's why I like literary biographies and also books about exploration. The struggle, the hint of madness, the necessary isolation and creativity. Once they're back (if they ever get back, vide Keats) it's all downhill from there.Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00251983804060081813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-44527928992743392922012-06-07T22:44:18.672-05:002012-06-07T22:44:18.672-05:00First novel seems about right. Faulkner gets real...First novel seems about right. Faulkner gets really good with novel #4, <i>The Sound and the Fury</i>, so I might think that I need to read the biography up to that point, at least. But what does he do after publishing novel #1 except write more novels? The relevant artistic biography is now in the novels themselves - if I want to know what Faulkner was doing, I should just read those.<br /><br />So, good point.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-61419412996164117782012-06-07T17:31:40.675-05:002012-06-07T17:31:40.675-05:00I agree entirely, except for perhaps the last two ...I agree entirely, except for perhaps the last two words. I usually give up on literary biographies the moment the writer publishes their first novel. Their lives cease to interest me at that point.<br /><br />Literary autobiographies, on the other hand, are a different kettle of fish. And, as you say, much of Boswell's Johnson is Johnson's Johnson. It's probably something about internal lives not accessible to the biographer.obookihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03885121629202810216noreply@blogger.com