Research Catalog

The American biographical novel

Title
The American biographical novel / Michael Lackey.
Author
Lackey, Michael
Publication
  • New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.
  • ©2016
Supplementary Content
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TextUse in library JFD 16-2954Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
ix, 278 pages; 22 cm
Summary
  • "Before the 1970s, there were only a few acclaimed biographical novels. But starting in the 1980s, there was a veritable explosion of this genre of fiction, leading to the publication of spectacular biographical novels about figures as varied as Abraham Lincoln, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Friedrich Nietzsche, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, and Marilyn Monroe, just to mention a notable few. This publication frenzy culminated in 1999 when two biographical novels (Michael Cunningham's The Hours and Russell Banks' Cloudsplitter) were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and Cunningham's novel won the award. In The American Biographical Novel, Michael Lackey charts the shifts in intellectual history that made the biographical novel acceptable to the literary establishment and popular with the general reading public. More specifically, Lackey clarifies the origin and evolution of this genre of fiction, specifies the kind of 'truth' it communicates, provides a framework for identifying how this genre uniquely engages the political, and demonstrates how it gives readers new access to history"--
  • "The American Biographical Novel examines the rise of this genre of fiction, how it engages and historicizes the political, the unique kind of 'truth' it communicates, and how it contributes to our collective understanding of culture and consciousness"--
Subject
  • Biographical fiction, American > History and criticism
  • Historical fiction, American > History and criticism
  • Truth in literature
  • History in literature
  • Politics in literature
  • Literature and history > United States > History > 20th century
  • Literature and society > United States > History > 20th century
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
The Rise and Legitimization of the American Biographical Novel -- The Fictional Truth of the Biographical Novel: The Case of Ludwig Wittgenstein -- Surrealism, Historical Representation, and the Biographical Novel -- Zora Neale Hurston and the Art of Political Critique in the Biblical Biographical Novel -- Dual Temporal Truths in the Biographical novel -- The Biographical Novel: A Misappropriated Life or a Truthful Fiction?.
Call Number
JFD 16-2954
ISBN
  • 9781628926347
  • 1628926341
  • 9781628926330
  • 1628926333
  • 9781628926361 (canceled/invalid)
  • 9781628926354 (canceled/invalid)
LCCN
  • 2015038230
  • 9781628926330
OCLC
908262485
Author
Lackey, Michael, author.
Title
The American biographical novel / Michael Lackey.
Publisher
New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.
Copyright Date
©2016
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Other Standard Identifier
9781628926330
Research Call Number
JFD 16-2954
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