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
Jun 3, 2023 • 53min
The nature of literary power, who holds it, and how the biographer should understand it.
Samuel R. Delany presents the writer as biographical subject and what it is the biographer needs to know about literary world and how reputations are made. But first a discussion of a movie, The Wife
May 23, 2023 • 31min
The Power of the Living Biographical Subject v The Power of the Biographer
What does it mean to be powerful in the literary world, and in what sense should the biographer take it seriously?
May 14, 2023 • 34min
Dylan Thomas and why biography matters, with a cameo performance by Marilyn Monroe
The correspondence with Samuel R. Delany continues, with many digressions, but all of them pertaining to biography and the work it can accomplish
May 7, 2023 • 35min
Why a biographer would go ahead when the subject is fiercely resistant
The Sontag saga continues
Apr 30, 2023 • 47min
Samuel R. Delany refuses to give up on Susan Sontag’s biographers
The seventh part of what is turning out to be a saga—listened to its entirety it amounts to a class on biography that you can take for free.
Apr 30, 2023 • 35min
Seamus Heaney in America with biographer Ed O’Shea
A talk about Ed O’Shea’s recent book and what matters about Seamus Heaney’s experience in America
Apr 23, 2023 • 35min
What Does It Mean to Know a Biographical Subject
An intervention by the New York Times and the story of a club of unauthorized biographers
Apr 15, 2023 • 35min
Round 5 of The Biographer and His Critic
I continue the debate with Samuel R. Delany, reading from our correspondence and talking about it. In this episode, Sontag has her say.
Apr 8, 2023 • 42min
Round 4: The Biographer and His Critic
Samuel R. Delany continues to point out the error of my ways, and I respond with my own letters and commentary.
Apr 1, 2023 • 50min
The Biographer and His Critic: Round 3
I continue to read and comment on my correspondence with Samuel R. Delany concerning the proper behavior of a biographer.
