Biography: A Brief History by Nigel Hamilton

Abstract

^^^^^DHM^BIMIIIffiSH|Dn^|19HMBSIIB^^^^| barber, ofKumHamsun's final years inNorway, ofa girl inVietnam photographed nakedandon fire, ofan Italianphysicist who mysteriously disappears inNaples,ofthecurious discussion abouttheauthenticity of an AndyWarholprint, and many others. In fact,the list of storiesis almost endless. However as thetitle indicates, thestories are notabout isolated events but,rather, areconnected .They make references to eachother andreflect ononeanother throughout thebook. Through pleasantand flexible prose,Forn creates a mosaicofcharacters and situations thatis often closertofiction than nonfiction. Asanadeptwriter, Forn knows that every reader hopestorecognize himself in thebooksthathe reads. Ononeofthelastpagesofthebook, wecomeacross this question: "What is itwithin us that so clearly recognizes thatmagicalfraternity with theother, and withothers whenit appears?" Thenarrator hereisForn, andhe is speaking ofa dreamthat he had in whichhe saw himself swimming with other peopleinBuenos Aires.The story is titled"The Others," anditisalsoa fitting metaphorfortheactofreading . In the dream, Forn describes what itmeans tounderstand that whenonelivesa collective experience, onebelongs to a plurality. Too,reading resembles a dream,"or at leastthisdream," thatplacewherewe are ourselves through those others, where noman isanislandanymore. MarceloRioseco University ofOklahoma Nigel Hamilton. Biography: A Brief History. Cambridge, Massachusetts . Harvard UniversityPress. 2009 (©2007). x + 345 pages, ill.$15.95. isbn 978-0-674-03471-6 In thisbeautifully designedpaperback ,withitsarresting close-upof LillianGishon thecover, itsrichly illustrated pagesfilled with excerpts ofbiographies datingfrom ancient Mesopotamia tothetwenty-first century , NigelHamilton, biographer of John F. Kennedy, currently atwork ona three-volume biography ofBill Clinton, offers a stimulating introduction totheartofbiography. His intentions, however,are farmore ambitious. Insisting inhisprologue that thegenre isnotmerely literary, Hamilton defines biography as any "outputdevotedto recording and interpreting reallives."Bythisdefinition , the visualiconography ofportraiture wouldbepartofthehistory ofbiography, as well as anywork that reflects onthemaker's ownlife, including memoir, poetry, andautobiography , evenmanyworks offiction .Hamilton arguesthatbecause their contemporary listeners believed them tobereal, evenIcelandic sagas and theepic of Gilgamesh should also be includedin thehistory of biography. Indefining biography so broadly, Hamilton hasassigned himself a task ofgargantuan proportions ifheintends togivea "brief history" ofthefield. However, whenheturns tochronology, Hamilton steers close totheconventional narrative. BeginningwithAugustine , whoseConfessions , he writes, "struck deeperto theheartofthehumanself, as the basisofbiography, thaneverbefore or after," Hamiltontracesbiographyas a product oftheidea ofthe individual soulthat appearsinearly Christianity, developsintheRenaissance and Enlightenment periods, and finally flowers intheRomantic periodintotheconcept oftheinviolableself , a concept deconstructed in thelasthundred years butstill holdingstrong as a corevalueinWestern culture. In his discussionof thebiographiesof thelasthundredyears, Hamiltonmakes a more original argument as he pinpoints whathe considersto be important recent trends. As a distinguished contemporarybiographer himself, Hamiltonis certainly worth listening to here.He identifies severalrecent biographies thatpurport toexplain a lifeby uncovering or exposing its secrets,such as MichaelHolroy d'sbiography ofLytton Strachey, revealing Strachey's sexualhistory, followed byequally revelatory biographiesby NigelNicholson of his parents, HaroldNicholson andVita Sackville-West, andbyLyndall GordonofVirgina Woolf, showing that many contemporary biographies followa psychoanalytical model, peelingbackthepubliclayersofa personality to getat thechildhood traumas and emotional painunder thesurface. Biography: A Brief History, while neitherexhaustivenor rigorously 761WorldLiterature Today consistent initsdefinition ofterms, is an entertaining introduction toa field thatis perhaps toocomplex to coverin anysinglevolume.Nigel Hamilton does includean excellent bibliography forthosewhoseekto study thefield ofbiography systematically , and thewell-chosen brief excerpts of greatbiographies will inspirethe readerto turnto the originals and read or rereadthem with newinterest. MaryKaiser Jefferson StateCommunity College Zbigniew Herbert. The Collected Prose 1948-1998. AlissaValles,ed. NewYork. Ecco /HarperCollins. 2010. xxv+ 708 pages.$34.99.isbn 978-0-06072382 -8 WhenEcco issued ZbigniewHerbert 'sCollected Poemsa fewyears ago (see WLT,September 2007,70), a lively, ifattimes malicious, discussionensuedregarding thefactthat AlissaValleshadtranslated mostof thepoemsanew,thus bringing upon herself thecontempt ofthosewho favoredthe originaltranslations donemostly byJohn and Bogdana Carpenter. Manyofus whomerely watched, read, andlistened from the sidelines believed that themudslingingamounted tonothing morethan a farcestarring thegood and the uglyoftheincreasingly fragmented literary world.ButwhilesomepicturedHerbert himself rolling with laughter in his graveand refusing to side witheither party, we must remember that Herbert thepoet,the essayist, and,aboveallelse,Herbert themanwhoendured yearsofmisery , political charades, anddebilitatingillness , was a manofprinciple who workedtirelessly to earnthe right tocallhimself "a citizen ofthe earth, an inheritor notonlyof the Greeksand Romansbutofalmost thewholeofinfinity/' The CollectedProse gathers and completes all of Herbert's prose publishedin English,plus a selectionof previously untranslated shortprose that appeared in Poland in 2001.CharlesSimic rightly pointsout in his preface thatsomeoftheessays"often read likegood after-dinner talk."While onemight be forgiven forpointing out thatsuchdinnertalksseema thingof thepast,Herbert's prose doesinfact possessa mesmerizing effectthatbelongs to the realm of giftedstorytellers ratherthan staidintellectuals. Weaving together strandsof myths...