HSY4900

Biography and history

Proposed to be offered next in 2000

John Rickard

8 points - One 2-hour seminar per week - First semester - Clayton

Objectives Students successfully completing this course should demonstrate an advanced comprehension of the differing conventions of 'life-course writing', an ability to critically analyse the construction of biographical and autobiographical narratives, and an awareness of those theoretical, conceptual and epistemological questions which bear upon the relationship between history, biography and autobiography. Through close examination of different forms of biographical and autobiographical writing, students should also gain skills in the critical interpretation of different textual and narrative traditions.

Synopsis This subject examines the differing practices of life-course writing during the modern period. It considers the influence of psychoanalysis on biography and autobiography, the differences between 'historical' and 'literary' biography and the articulation of specific genres of life-course writing. In addition, the subject examines the impact of theorising difference, in feminist and other writing, on the making of 'life stories'. Seminars will discuss selected works in depth, focussing on the conceptual and writing issues raised by different approaches to autobiography and biography.

Assessment Major essay (4000 words): 65% - Writing exercises (2000 words): 35%

Recommended texts

Edel L Writing lives Norton, 1984
Epstein W Recognizing biography U Pennsylvania P, 1987
Lionnet F Autobiographical voices: Race, gender, self-portraiture Cornell U P, 1989
Marcus L Autobiographical discourses U Manchester P, 1994
Stanley L The auto/biographical I: The theory and practice of feminist auto/biography U Manchester P, 1992

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