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Fear of Theory
Towards a New Theoretical Justification of Biography
Series: - Biography Studies, Volume: 3
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Recent academic historiography has seen a profusion of theoretical perspectives on biography, both analytical and descriptive. Yet many biographers still fear âtheoryâ as antithetical to accessible narration of real lives.
This volume presents eighteen essays by more than a dozen scholars and practitioners from Australia, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, and the United States who seek to banish such fear. Writing with candor, wide experience and familiarity with modern teaching, they examine the riches greeting the biographer willing to think more deeply about biography: its inner workings and rationale in a world still hungry for fact and truth.
Contributors are: Nigel Hamilton, Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon, Emma McEwin, Melanie Nolan, Kerstin Maria Pahl, Eric Palmen, Hans Renders, Carl Rollyson, David T. Roth, István M. Szijártó, Jeffrey Tyssens, and David Veltman.
See inside the book.
Recent academic historiography has seen a profusion of theoretical perspectives on biography, both analytical and descriptive. Yet many biographers still fear âtheoryâ as antithetical to accessible narration of real lives.
This volume presents eighteen essays by more than a dozen scholars and practitioners from Australia, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, and the United States who seek to banish such fear. Writing with candor, wide experience and familiarity with modern teaching, they examine the riches greeting the biographer willing to think more deeply about biography: its inner workings and rationale in a world still hungry for fact and truth.
Contributors are: Nigel Hamilton, Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon, Emma McEwin, Melanie Nolan, Kerstin Maria Pahl, Eric Palmen, Hans Renders, Carl Rollyson, David T. Roth, István M. Szijártó, Jeffrey Tyssens, and David Veltman.
See inside the book.
Hans Renders is Professor in History and Theory of Biography at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). He has written two biographies and has published on biographical theory in various international journals. He is Editor-in-Chief of the series Biography Studies.
David Veltman has a PhD from the University of Groningen. His dissertation, a biography of the artist Felix de Boeck, was written at the Biography Institute. He has published before in Biography. An Interdisciplinary Quarterly.
David Veltman has a PhD from the University of Groningen. His dissertation, a biography of the artist Felix de Boeck, was written at the Biography Institute. He has published before in Biography. An Interdisciplinary Quarterly.
"This exciting new volume provides reflections and debates about biographical theory and methods from some of the fieldâs leading practitioners and critics through a series of essays, case studies, and jousting among microhistorians. It raises some of the fundamental questions about the nature of biography, if not always answering them definitively. The debates will continue, and this volume will play an important role in stimulating and advancing them."
- Daniel R. Meister, University of New Brunswick
â[T]his book [...] proves to be an important attempt to find theoretical background for biographical research. [...] With the return to its academic roots, it is only logical that biography needs to find theoretical and epistemological âalliesâ and even though it is not an easy task, I praise this book for initiating it.â
- Jana Wohlmuth Markupová, Charles University, Dejiny-Teorie-Kritika, February 2022.
- Daniel R. Meister, University of New Brunswick
â[T]his book [...] proves to be an important attempt to find theoretical background for biographical research. [...] With the return to its academic roots, it is only logical that biography needs to find theoretical and epistemological âalliesâ and even though it is not an easy task, I praise this book for initiating it.â
- Jana Wohlmuth Markupová, Charles University, Dejiny-Teorie-Kritika, February 2022.
Notes on Contributors
Foreword: Scaffolding a House: Biography and the Role of Chance in a Life
Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson
1 The Deep-Rooted Fear of Theory Among Biographers
âHans Renders
2 The Missing Key: Theorizing Modern Historical Biography
âNigel Hamilton
3 âHave They Caught the Cambridge Structuralist Yet?â Biography Writing and the Fear of Theory
âJeffrey Tyssens
4 Biography and Emotional Practice
âKerstin Maria Pahl
5 The Great Individual in History: Historicising Historianâs Biographical Practice
âMelanie Nolan
6 The Backside of the Biography: Microhistory as a Research Tool
âSigurður Gylfi Magnússon
7 Beyond Verification and Falsification: Biography as Go-Between of Historical Truth
âEric Palmen
8 History That Addresses Biography: Ethics and the Vatican
âHans Renders
9 Brief Lives: A Microhistorical Approach
âDavid T. Roth
10 âUne génération spontanéeâ: Kandinsky Seen Through the Eyes of Felix de Boeck (1898â1995)
âDavid Veltman
11 Template for a Biography: Whatâs the Sense of Theory
âHans Renders
12 Building a Better Biography
âCarl Rollyson
13 Capturing the Subject: Virginia Woolf âs Battle with Biographical Boundaries
âEmma McEwin
14 The Representativeness of a Reputation: A âThird Waveâ in Microhistory
âHans Renders and David Veltman
15 The Devil Is in the Detail: What Is a âGreat Historical Questionâ?
âSigurður Gylfi Magnússon
16 Arguments for Microhistory 2.0
âIstván M. Szijártó
17 Exceptions That Prove the Rule: Biography, Microhistory and Marginals
âHans Renders
Bibliography
Index
Foreword: Scaffolding a House: Biography and the Role of Chance in a Life
Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson
Section 1: Reflections on Theory and Biography
1 The Deep-Rooted Fear of Theory Among Biographers
âHans Renders
2 The Missing Key: Theorizing Modern Historical Biography
âNigel Hamilton
3 âHave They Caught the Cambridge Structuralist Yet?â Biography Writing and the Fear of Theory
âJeffrey Tyssens
4 Biography and Emotional Practice
âKerstin Maria Pahl
5 The Great Individual in History: Historicising Historianâs Biographical Practice
âMelanie Nolan
6 The Backside of the Biography: Microhistory as a Research Tool
âSigurður Gylfi Magnússon
Section 2: Case Studies
7 Beyond Verification and Falsification: Biography as Go-Between of Historical Truth
âEric Palmen
8 History That Addresses Biography: Ethics and the Vatican
âHans Renders
9 Brief Lives: A Microhistorical Approach
âDavid T. Roth
10 âUne génération spontanéeâ: Kandinsky Seen Through the Eyes of Felix de Boeck (1898â1995)
âDavid Veltman
11 Template for a Biography: Whatâs the Sense of Theory
âHans Renders
12 Building a Better Biography
âCarl Rollyson
13 Capturing the Subject: Virginia Woolf âs Battle with Biographical Boundaries
âEmma McEwin
Section 3: Dossier on Microhistory
14 The Representativeness of a Reputation: A âThird Waveâ in Microhistory
âHans Renders and David Veltman
15 The Devil Is in the Detail: What Is a âGreat Historical Questionâ?
âSigurður Gylfi Magnússon
16 Arguments for Microhistory 2.0
âIstván M. Szijártó
17 Exceptions That Prove the Rule: Biography, Microhistory and Marginals
âHans Renders
Bibliography
Index
Teachers of Biography Studies, University Libraries, (Graduate) students and anyone else working in the humanities who may have questions regarding the theoretical notions (or the lack thereof) in biography.