Literary Analysis: Biographical Perspective

1
Literary AnalysisBiographical Perspective

• Life Experiences
• Influence Writing
• Catherine Wishart
• Adjunct Instructor

2
How Common is Biographical Context in Writing?

• All authors write in a biographical context
• The goal of a biographical criticism is
  understanding why the author wrote what he or she
  wrote
• This includes pointing out how biographical
  circumstances contributed to the creation of
  parts of the textbiographical readings often
  resemble non-theoretical psychological readings

3
Influences on Biographical Context

• Ideology a system of beliefs that governs a
  groups actions, its view of reality, and its
  assumptions about what is normal and natural.
  Ideology can be communicated by discourse.
• Some authors ideologically agree with the power
  elites of society (agree with the societal norm)
• Other authors ideologically disagree with the
  power elite (what to initiate change)
• Life experiences often influence their
  ideologies.

4
History of Biographical Criticism

• Samuel Johnson (1779) researched poets and
  utilized truthful accounts of their lives to
  understand nuances in their writings.
• Since Johnson, biographical criticism has become
  more and more popular.

5
Important Questions for Biographical Criticism

• Understanding the Author
• What facts about the authors life suggest ideas
  in the work? Did anything that happened to the
  author effect his or her themes or choice of
  subject matter?
• What was/is the authors world view? Which of the
  authors beliefs seem reflected in their story?
• What commentary on the story did the author make?
  Does it point to ideas in the story?

6
Important Questions

• Understanding the Authors World
• What world view was typical of the authors time?
  What aspects of this world view seem prevalent in
  this story or character? Does the author seem to
  accept or rebel against this world view?
• How did people respond to the authors works and
  life?
• What ideas did people find in the authors works
  and life?

7
Adding Perspective

• The social structure or way of life of the
  authors time period gives greater depth from
  which to draw conclusions and better understand
  the story.
• Discovering details about the authors life and
  times also provides a way to further develop
  ideas about interpreting the story.

8
Example of an Authors Life Experiences Shaping
His Writing

• Tim OBrien is the author of The Things They
  Carried
• Facts about OBrien
• Born October 1, 1946
• Grew up in Minnesota
• Political views were against the Vietnam War
• Drafted into Army in 1968
• Served from 1968 to 1970 as an infantry foot
  soldier

9
Sketch of the Book

• The story takes place in Vietnam.
• It details the burdens that infantry soldiers
  carried, both physically and mentally.
• In an extended novel released in 1990, OBrien
  gives the narrator his own name.
• The story is fictional even though it sounds true
  (verisimilitude).
• The story paints a devastating picture of the
  Vietnam War.

10
One Critics Biographical Analysis

• One of the most fascinating things about
  OBriens story was his own reflection on the art
  of telling a story, and specifically, the art of
  telling a war story. We are continuously reminded
  that the story is fiction, but it is difficult to
  separate Tim the narrator and Tim OBrien the
  author.

11
Biographical CriticismChecklist of Questions

1. What influences persons, ideas, movements,
   events evident in the writers life does the
   work reflect?
2. To what extent are the events described in the
   work a direct transfer of what happened in the
   authors actual life?
3. What modifications of the actual events has the
   writer made in the literary work? For what
   possible purposes?
4. Why might the writer have altered his or her
   actual experience in the literary work?
5. What are the effects of the differences between
   actual events and their literary transformation
   in the work?
6. What has the author revealed in the work about
   his or her characteristic modes of thought,
   perceptions, or emotion? What place does the work
   have in the authors literary development and
   career?

12
Sources

• http//www.slideboom.com/presentations/106643/Crit
  ical-Perspectives-Biographical-Criticism-Final-Sub
  mission
• www.cedarville.edu/departments/writingcenter/.../l
  itanalysis.ppt
• DiYanni, Robert. Literature Approaches to
  Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd ed. Boston
  McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.