Biographical Criticism

Taia Fagerstrom, Alyssa Bolog, Riley Swanson

The critic seeks to explicate a piece of

literature by utilizing their ideas and knowledge of the author’s life.

Summary

Samuel Johnson- first to employ extensively Aristotle- influenced others to use the theory Roland Barthes-1968, tried to debunk the

theory of biographical criticism

Key Influences

Hellenistic Greek times, 18th – 19th century According to author George Alexander

Kennedy, “The works of authors were read as sources of information about their lives, personalities, and interests.”

Influenced heavily by Aristotelian philosophy

Background

Literature is written by actual people with

actual stories of their own The works might follow actual events in a

writer’s life Biographical info doesn’t change the

understanding of a text as much as it enriches our appreciation

Biographical data should amplify the meaning of the text, not drown it out with irrelevant material

Main points

Recognition of otherness: there is an author

who is different in personality and background from the reader

Biography: a human life in its course Peripatetic: Aristotelian

Key words

Works well for political works Practical method that can provide better

understanding Helps widen a reader’s view of a story

Strengths

It is a case by case theory Caution: avoid equating the work’s content

with the author’s life Can complicate a work or the understanding

of a work Tends to educe art to the level of biography to

make it relative rather than universal

Weaknesses

http://home.olemiss.edu/~

egjbp/spring97/litcrit.html http://

www.cla.purdue.edu/blackmon/engl360k/critical.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biographical_criticism

http://www2.anglistik.uni-freiburg.de/intranet/englishbasics/Theory02.htm

Resources