A Life in Biography
Carl Rollyson
Talks and interviews about the life of biography as experienced by a biographer over forty years and fourteen biographies, dealing with subjects ranging from Sylvia Plath to William Faulkner, Marilyn Monroe to Susan Sontag, and much more.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 29, 2020 • 15min
Words Often Applied to Biography
Authorized/Unauthorized; Gossipy/Salacious/; Plodding/Workmanlike/Revisionist
Aug 22, 2020 • 14min
3 Questions You Should Never Ask About Biography
1. Is the subject worthy of a biography. 2. Is the subject too small? 3. Why another biography of?
Aug 15, 2020 • 18min
Episode 19: Proposing a Biography
Why it is important to do a proposal? Why not just write the book? This podcast tells you why.
Aug 8, 2020 • 20min
Episode 18: Biography, The Historical Present, and You
When does it make sense to use the present tense in a biography? Examples from the work of Noel Riley Fitch, William Faulkner, and yours truly.
Aug 1, 2020 • 24min
Marilyn Monroe and the Idea of Biography
Biography is its own form of knowledge, a view that many readers and reviewers of biography are reluctant to acknowledge, or do not even consider.
Jul 25, 2020 • 23min
Episode 16: My Listeners Respond
Listeners who want to know how to navigate the varied access to sources with different subjects, or how to present a new vision without new sources.
Jul 18, 2020 • 16min
The Gaps and Bulges of Biography
What to do when not all parts of your biographical subject’s life are equal, when the first part of the life seems the most exciting, for example, or when interest only really builds in the last part of the subject’s life.
Jul 11, 2020 • 8min
Episode 14: Who Deserves A Biography?
The answer to who deserves a biography is everyone, or anyone. It all depends on the materials you have, if the story moves you, and you know how to tell it.
Jul 4, 2020 • 16min
Episode 13: Homage to Deirdre Bair and the Purpose of Biography
My tribute to one of the great biographers of our time and why her work matters, and why biography matters.
Jun 27, 2020 • 15min
How I Became a Biographer
A quick explanation of how it all started with Marilyn Monroe.
