Episode 65: Biography and the Hermeneutic Circle
What it means to circle around your subject in a biography and how that circling is hermeneutical. I draw on my biography of Lillian Hellman for examples.
10 Jul 202140min
Episode 64: Janet Malcolm and the Black Art of Biography
My encounters with Janet Malcolm’s assault on biography, beginning in 1994 and continuing through several books of mine in the new millennium.
3 Jul 202145min
A Life in Biography (Trailer)
28 Jun 202132s
Episode 63: Talking with Carol Sklenicka about her biography of Alice Adams
The biographer of Raymond Carver explains what drew her to Alice Adams and the history of the generation that came into its own after World War II
27 Jun 202139min
Episode 62: A Talk with Kai Bird about his new Shakespearean/Faulknerian biography of Jimmy Carter
A talk with Kai Bird about his Shakespearean/Faulknerian biography of Jimmy Carter
19 Jun 202142min
Episode 61: Biography Anne Sebba discussing Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy
A wide-ranging discussion of why Ethel Rosenberg matters, what is new in her story, and why American writers continue to be obsessed with her life.
12 Jun 202146min
Episode 60: The Case for Literary Prurience
I draw on my experience of writing biographies of William Faulkner, Michael Foot, and Amy Lowell, to explain why biographies have to be about the whole person, notwithstanding the charge of literary prurience.
5 Jun 20213h 52min
Episode 59: Biographology
What you need to know about reading, writing, and reviewing biography.
29 Mai 202140min
