MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS
Arts Undergraduate Handbook 1996
Published by Monash University
Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
HSY4900
Biography and the historian's craft
Not offered in 1996
David Chandler
8 points + Two lectures and one tutorial per week + First semester + Clayton
+ Prohibition: HSY3890
Synopsis Biography is one of the oldest forms of historical writing.
This subject covers the history and practice of biographical writing in the
modern period. It will consider the influence of psychoanalysis on biography,
the differences between `historical' and `literary' biography, and the recent
insights of feminist biography. Seminars will discuss selected works in depth
and focus on questions of sources, methodology, and on the theoretical issues
raised by the writing of biography.
Assessment Written (6000 words) + Examination (2 hours)
Prescribed texts
- Clifford J (ed.) Biography as an art: Selected criticism 1560-1960
OUP, 1962
- Edel L Writing lives Norton, 1984
- Epstein W Recognizing biography U Pennsylvania P, 1987
- Friedson A (ed.) New directions in biography U P Hawaii, 1981
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