I keep thinking about the differences between what the academy deems appropriate in a biography (a genre still considered somewhat questionable) and what the rest of us write. Academics follow a certain protocol. Just as scientists peering through a microscope literally look down on the material on the slide, academics always remain superior to the subject under dissection, determining the value of the subject's work by slotting it into specific categories. That's why academics value only biographies organized thematically; this structure—imposed in response to currently fashionable theories—is seen as more worthy of intellectual effort than the messy factuality of the life. Academics also believe it is their job to state an opinion about every facet of the work and to vigorously question any autobiographical remark of the subject that does not fit with their own sense of likely and unlikely events.
As a non-academic biographer, I approach my subjects in a completely different way. I seek to know what it was like to be them—to think their thoughts (as conveyed by their journals, letters, and other written materials), and to understand how their upbringing and subsequent life events shaped their view of the world and influenced their work. To do this, I rely on archival sources dating as close as possible to the event in question, while also presenting some of the inevitable memory slips and embroideries that recreate these events years later. As far as I am concerned, the best way to organize a biography is to emphasize the narrative, which generally involves moving chronologically through the life. Of course that does not mean including dull or inconsequential details; a biographer needs to exercise a shaping hand in determining what facts are important.
But I am not writing to prove something about my subjects, or to demonstrate how cleverly I can refute their claims or dismiss some of their efforts. In other words: it's not about me. I do not stand above my subjects; I try to stand (insofar as possible) inside them, or at least alongside them. I express my own opinions only when I feel strongly about them.(I relegate any disagreements with other published sources to the endnotes, where I know only specialists will see them.) It's a question of humility, really. I am writing about this life because it is compelling and because it belongs to someone whose work I admire. My goal is to introduce others to this person and her work. I try to accomplish it as gracefully as I can, but in the end, what matters is readers' ability to connect with my subject—to appreciate her, understand her world, and close the book with a sense of how complicated a creative life can be.
© Cathy Curtis 2024