BIOGRAPHY
Definition:
The story of a person's life, written by another. Adjective: biographical.
The writer of a biography is called a biographer. The subject of a biography is the biographee.
Etymology:
From the Greek, "life" + "write"
Observations: The History of Biography
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"As early as the fourth century B.C.E. in the Western tradition, biography began to be
distinguished from general history as a separate rhetorical form. Two principal lines
emerged: historical biography chronicling the subject's entire life, and popular
biography recounting notable incidents and sayings with little or no attempt to
establish chronology or to depict the subject in historical context. . . .
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"[In] the late-seventeenth-century, . . . 'biography' became the correct dictionary
designation for a written record of a particular human life, but it was not distinguished
from the more generic term 'biography'--[which includes] the entire field of real-life
human depiction, in various media: a noble field that stretches back to classical times
and beyond."
(Nigel Hamilton, Biography: A Brief History. Harvard Univ. Press, 2007)
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"Biography as a literary genre is largely the product of one seminal work, James
Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson (1791). Boswell's innovations revolutionized the
genre and made it the target of suppression and censorship. He sought not only to
memorialize a great person but to reveal his/her flaws, and in general gave an
intimate picture such as no biographer had ever before dared to attempt."
(Carl Rollyson, Essays in Biography. iUniverse, 2005).
What is a biography?
It is simply the history of a lifetime. It narrates the most important facts of someone’s life, his
or her childhood, adolescence, military service, wars he or she lived through, educational
background, professional life, marriage, children, and most outstanding achievements. Also it
tells anecdotes, memories, trips and dearly cherished moments.
It presents the subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including
intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality.
Biographical works are usually non-fiction, but fiction can also be used to portray a person's
life. Biographical works in diverse media—from literature to film—form the genre known as
biography.
Multimedia forms
With technological advancements in the 20th century, multimedia biography became more
popular than literary forms of personality. Along with documentary Biographical films,
Hollywood produced numerous commercial films based on the lives of famous people. The
popularity of these forms of biography culminated in such cable and satellite television
networks as A&E, The Biography Channel, The History Channel and History International.
More recently, CD-ROM and online biographies have appeared. Unlike books and films, they
often do not tell a chronological narrative; instead, they are archives of many discrete media
elements related to an individual person, including video clips, photographs, and text articles.
Media scholar Lev Manovich says that such archives exemplify the database form, allowing
users to navigate the materials in many ways (Manovich 220). 21st century web 2.0
applications such as Annoknips.com enable users all over the world to compile their own
biography and illustrate it with other people's photos. Autobiography's are very useful tools in
finding out more about a person.
A biography has the following characteristics:
1. Tells about a real person
2. Shows the writer knows a lot about this person
3. Describes the person's environment
4. Provides anecdotes or details that show the person in action
5. Shows how the person affects other people
6. States or implies how the writer feels about the person
Example: (The numbers represent the characteristics each sentence addresses.)
[1] Here's a brief biography or life story of a real person, my Uncle John.[2] He is my
favorite uncle and has been a big part of my life. We go fishing down by the beach at
least once a month. [3] Uncle John's house is a five-minute walk to Wailua beach. He
has a lot of greenish glass balls and floaters hanging outside his house. [4] Early in the
morning, he takes his daily walk on the beach. Uncle John has found many beautiful
seashells, along with the glass balls and floaters that have washed up with the waves.
[5] My uncle really loves the beach and the ocean. Together, we clean up the beach
whenever we go fishing by picking up lots of plastic trash and fishing nets. [6] Uncle
John shows me how important it is to care for our environment. I think he has saved
many ocean animals from being harmed.
How to write a biography:
The following are some suggestions and steps you might like to follow:
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Decide whom you want to write about
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Collect as much information as you possibly can, from his or her birth date to the most
relevant facts of his or her life through letters, journals, newspaper clippings, pictures,
and most importantly, through conversations with elder family members (it would be a
good idea to take notes or record conversations). .
Organize your thoughts before starting to write, think of that part of the person’s life you
would like to highlight. Some useful questions can be: who?, what?, where?, why? and
how?
Other questions to ask would be: what makes this person so special and interesting?
How can he or she be best described? Which were the events that marked or changed
his or her life? In what way was he or she an influence to family, society or
professionally?
When writing about somebody else, describe his or her appearance, habits, features
and way of talking. If you do not remember a name, use replacements such as: friend,
mate or boss.
Edit the biography; read it aloud to feel of the rhythm and the sound of it, it will also help
you notice if you are repeating information.
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