Contesting Literary Biography in the Romantic Period
The Foreshadowing of Psychological Biography
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12880342 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jane Darcy (King's College London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 292-309 |
| Publication date | 2008-01-31 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Literature Compass (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1741-4113 • E-ISSN: 1741-4113 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2007.00517.x |
| OpenAlex | W2053529188 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
This essay surveys critical approaches to Romantic literary biography, both by Romantic writers themselves and by recent scholars. While accepting the argument that an epistemological shift in the late eighteenth century saw the emergence of interest in subjective experience as recorded in the new genre of full‐length biography, it rejects the centrality some scholars have placed on the debate over whether literary biography was an ‘art’ rather than a ‘science’. Rather it suggests that the central debate was over the depiction of the ‘inner man’. Does the imperative for biographical ‘truth’ sanction the publication of revelations – often scandalous or shocking – of a subject's private life? Or is the ‘truth’ to be found in Carlyle's insistence on the transcendent powers of the visionary poet? Key biographies will be considered, including those of Gray, Burns, Cowper and Byron, as will key biographers, including Mason, Hayley, Currie, Lockhart, Southey, Moore and Carlyle. The relative importance of biographical commentators James Stanfield and Isaac D’Israeli forms an important part of this discussion. D’Israeli's introduction from his reading of the new German psychology of the term ‘psychological character’ is an important step on the royal road that will lead to Freudian biography
Argument (complex analysis · Art · Biography · Depiction · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Romance · Biographical and Historical Analysis · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology
| Highly cited | No |
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