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Product Description
Review
"Concerns for accuracy and detail seem to cut across all biographers' discussion of their work, and how they respond to this need is varied and will be of interest to those writers and historians looking to take up the art." --Library Journal, January 15, 2005--, "Library Journal "
Product Description
Biography is well recognised as a peculiarly British vice. Lives for Sale is an anthology of essays by some of the best biographers now writing in Britain. They tell of the ups and downs of life writing: of problems with families and friends of their subjects, of shocking new discoveries, and of bitter professional rivalries. There are impassioned pieces in favour of biography, and others that describe disenchantment with an attempt to capture another human being in the pages of a book. Published in the autumn of 2004 to coincide with the appearance of the most important British publishing enterprise of the new century to date, the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Lives for Sale is full of amusing anecdotes and fascinating experiences retold by some of the masters of the form, including Michael Holroyd, Fiona MacCarthy, Graham Robb, Andrew Roberts, Hermione Lee, Margaret Forster, Jenny Uglow, Antonia Fraser, as well as contributions from the rising generation, and an essay by Beryl Bainbridge on Waiting for the Biographer.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Mark Bostridge has compiled a dream come true for any lover of Biography and I will treasure these essays that I know I will read again and again.
I love reading Biographies and when I first heard of this book I could not wait to get my hands on it.
I love reading Biographies and when I first heard of this book I could not wait to get my hands on it.
It is joy to read all these Tales of the Lives, by all my favourite biographers, and I enjoyed every single essay..
There seems to have been a fair amount of books in this vein, like Richard Holmes SIDETRACKS and Holroyds MOSAIC and I am hoping for even more.
A true joy that I can only recommend very highly.
And I look forward to Bostridge's book about Siblings and forthcoming Florence Nightingale biography.
Bravo for this collection and its collector.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What a wonderful way to celebrate the new Oxford DNB. Thirty two-essays and interviews with some of the best biographers writing today in Britain. My stand-outs for humour, poignancy, and for telling us how biographers cope with their jobs are: Lyndall Gordon on James's Death Mask, Fiona MacCarthy on controversy surrounding her book on Gill, Claire Harman on Sylvia Townsend-Warner, and the editor's own essay on his Vera Brittain revelations. Fascinating!
Format:Hardcover
If you have ever wondered how biographers tackled their subjects, then this is the book for you. Thirty-three biographers, most of them well-known, reveal their different approaches to their subjects. For some, it was plain-sailing, for others hard work. As the blurb says, the book tells of 'the ups and downs ... of shocking discoveries and frustrating dead ends, strange literary hauntings and curses, bitter professional rivalries ...' Several biographers were deeply involved with their book when they discovered that a rival biographer was working on the same subject. One biographer, Frances Wilson, discovered three months before publication that she had a rival whose book even had the same title as hers!
I recommend this book for its fascinating glimpses into the arcane world of the professional biographer.
I recommend this book for its fascinating glimpses into the arcane world of the professional biographer.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A joy
Mark Bostridge has compiled a dream come true for any lover of Biography and I will treasure these essays that I know I will read again and again. Read more
Published on 16 Sep 2004 by Teddy
5 stars and many ++++
Mark Bostridge have compiled a dream come true for any lover of Biography and I will treasure these essays that I know I will read again and again. Read more
Published on 6 Sep 2004 by Teddy
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