How to do biography~a primer 2008

inberg), 21; The Wonderful, Horrible Life of
Leni Riefenstahl (Müller), 91; Citizen Kane (Welles), 119–120
Flaubert, Gustave, 76 Form, biographical, 54, 95–96 Forster, E. M., 50–51 Foster, R. F., 251–254 Fowler, Helen, 240–241
Frank, Anne, 291–293 Franklin, Dr. Rosalind, 321–322 Freud, Sigmund, 18, 42–44, 157–159 Frey, James, 20–21, 313–315
Frick, Grace, 232–234 Friendship, between biographer
and subject, 38–40 Fry, Margery, 36 Fry, Roger, 35–36 Fuegi, John, 254–257
Galey, Mathieu, 233 Garnett, David, 60 Gauguin, Paul, 244–247 Gay, Peter, 157–159 Gender issues, in biography, 16
George Washington Book Prize,
135 Ghostwriter, use of, 280, 293 Gilbert, Sir Martin, 28, 229–231 Goldsmith, Oliver, 115–116 Goodwin, Doris Kearns, 29,
139–
140, 332–333 Gosse, Edmund, 18 Gosse, Philip Henry, 18 Gossip, memoirs as, 276–280 Graves, Richard Perceval, 298
Graves, Robert, 57–59, 294–298 Gruenther, Gen. Alfred, 82 Guralnick, Peter, 257–259
Hagiography, 14 Hamilton, Alexander, 134–137 Hamilton, Ian, 33, 317–319 Hardesty, Bob, 41 Hardwick, Elizabeth, 331
Harvard University Press, 320–321 Hauptmann, Elisabeth, 254 Hearst, William Randolph, 119–
120 Hemingway, Ernest, 110 Hero-worship, biography as, 43 Hinsley, Sir Harry, 71, 75 Historiography, 10–11, 63–66,
71–


73, 84–91 History of biography, 13–21 Hogarth Press, 36 Holocaust denial, 84–91 Holroyd, Michael, 59–61, 126–127,
259–261 Horace, 345–346 Hughes, Olwyn, 36–37 Hughes, Ted, 36–37, 325–330 Human nature. See Psychological
insight
Ignatieff, Michael, 153–154 Individuality, biographer’s, 124–
126 Internet, 20, 314 Interviewing technique, 76–79 Interviews, use of, 70–79 Irving, David, 84–91
James, Henry, 95, 109 Jefferson, Thomas, 274–276 Jesus of Nazareth, 14
John, Augustus, 259–261 Johnson, President Lyndon, 28– 29, 41, 139–140 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 8–13, 112,
114, 183–184, 323, 345 Johnstone, Julia, 278 Jowett, Benjamin, 71 Joyce, James, 226, 261–263 Julius Caesar,
195–196, 273
Kempe, Margery, 284–285 Keneally, Thomas, 20 Kennedy, President John F., 49,
130–133, 169–173, 175–176 Kennedy, Joseph P., 169–172
Lamb, Brian, 41 Last words, use of, 121–122 Later years, of biographical sub
ject, 217–237 Lawrence, T. E., 206–210 Lee, Hermione, 95, 127–129, 156,

263–265 Lewis, R. W. B., 95 Libel, 15, 85–91 Life-story, as element of bio
graphical design, 99–101, 138– 142, 156–159, 168–169, 215–216 Life work, of biographical sub
ject, 194–216 Lipstadt, Deborah, 85–91 Luther, Martin, 273 Lwoff, André, 306, 322–323 Mack, John, 206–210
Mackenzie, Compton, 31 Mailer, Norman, 211 Makins, Sir Roger, 229 Malcolm, Janet, 37, 55–56, 174–175,
328 Mann, Heinrich and Thomas, 72,
222–223 Mann, Katia, 72 Manning, Cardinal, 105–107 Marchenko, Anatoly, 309–310 Marx, Groucho, 61–62 Matisse,
Henri, 202–205 Maugham, Somerset, 150–151 McCarthy, Desmond, 56 McCarthyism, 198–202 McCourt, Frank, 311–312
McCullough, David, 37–38, 50,
122–123 Medawar, Sir Peter, 305–306 Melba, Nellie, 227 Memoir, 18, 299–313 Memoirs (mémoires), 270–281 Menzies,
Sir Stewart, 30–31 Michelet, Jules, 273 Military biography, 73–84 Milligan, Spike, 280 Mitford, Nancy, 185, 188
Montgomery, Field Marshal Ber
nard Law, 25–28, 73–75, 77–84, 218–220 Moral character, evaluating, 10–
13. See also Psychological insight Morgan, Ted, 150–151 Morrell, Ottoline, 224–225 Morris, Edmund, 51–55, 123–124,
129–130, 338 Moses, Robert, 28–29 Motivation, for doing biography,
25–28 Mountbatten, Adm. Lord Louis,
83–84 Mozart, Leopold, 160–162 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 160–
162 Müller, Ray, 91
Name, of biographical subject, 151–152 Name dropping, in memoirs,
278–280 Narrative. See Storytelling Narrative voice, 124–126 Negotiation, between editor and
author, 338–339 New York Times v. Sullivan, 19–20 Nin, Anaïs, 164–168
Official biography, 14, 26–28, 30– 33, 35–37, 51–55, 81–82, 94, 251 Opening, of biography, 121–137 Oppenheimer,
Robert, 197–202 Oral evidence, 70, 73–75. See also
Interviews, use of Ordinary people, as biographical subjects, 19
Orwell, George (Eric Blair), 32–33 Oxford English Dictionary, 17
Panegyric, biography as, 11, 17,
Parents, of biographical subject,
160–168 Penguin Books, 86–88 Permission to quote, 32–34,
319 Piaf, Edith, 141–142 Picasso, Pablo, 37–40, 203 Plath, Sylvia, 36–37, 324–330 plot, as element in biographical
design, 101–108, 113 Plutarch, 79, 195–196 Pohl, Martin, 254 Prejudice, on part of biographer,
25–27, 67. See also Truth, in bi

ography Presley, Elvis, 257–259 Private life, of biographical sub
ject, 11–13, 36, 174–193, 223–225 Production process, 336–340 Proposal, for biography project,
23–25, 96


Psychological insight: in biography, 18, 42–46, 108–111, 156–159; in autobiography, 285–287
Publication, consequences of, 317–
333 Publisher’s advance, 33–34, 49–50 Publishing contract, 23–24 Pudney, John, 133–134 Pulitzer Prize, 35, 37–38, 51
Pusey, Dr. Nathan, 321
Quest, as element of biographical design, 108–111 Quotations, use of, 82, 318–319
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 14–15 Rambler, The, 9–10 Randall, Willard Sterne, 136–137 Random House, 33, 49,
315 Reader. See Audience Reagan, President Ronald, 51–55,
129–130 Relationship therapy, 44–46 Research. See Biographical re
search Reston, James, 341–342 Reversal of fortune, 226–237 Richardson, Joanna, 145–147 Richardson, John, 38–40
Ridgway, Gen. Matthew, 81–82 Riding, Laura, 294–298 Riefenstahl, Leni, 234–237 Riley, Noël, 164–168 Rimbaud, Arthur,
238–240 Robb, Graham, 239–240 Rodger, George, 235–236 Rolfe, Frederick, 108–109 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 285–287
Russell, Bertrand, 223–225 Sadie, Stanley, 160–162 Saints, biography of, 14 Salinger, J. D., 33, 317–319 Sartre, JeanPaul, 189 Savigneau, Josyane, 231–234 Sawyer-Lauçanno, Christopher,
162–164 Scott, A. O., 141–142 Scott, Sir Walter, 277 Selection, as element of bio
graphical design, 111–113 Self-editing, 336–340 Self-representation, of biographi
cal subject, 208–209 Sereny, Gitta, 91 Sex life, of biographical subject.
See Private life, of biographical
subject Shainberg, Steven, 21 Shakespeare, William, 100–101 Sherry, Norman, 337 Sherwin, Martin, 198–200 Signage.
See Subdivision, in biog
raphy Signed consent, 31–32 Simon and Schuster, 333 Slander, 15 Smith, Stevie, 240–243 Sources, 69–71, 76, 81, 87,
89–90,
97, 208–209, 302, 332 Spalding, Frances, 240–243 Spurling, Hilary, 202–205 Stannard, Martin, 185–188 Steffin,
Margarete, 254 Stein, Gertrude, 278–280 Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle),
145–147 Stephen, Leslie, 35–36 Stevenson, Anne, 36–37 Storytelling, 101–108, 113–116, 125,
183–184 Strachey, Lytton, 17, 59–61, 99, 105–107, 126 Subdivision, in biography, 335–
336 Subjective testimony, 72, 276 Suetonius, 177–182 Suspense, role of, 114–116 Sweetman, David, 244–247 Sykes,

Christopher, 187 Symons, A. J. A., 108–109
Task, of biography, 7–21 Thalberg, Irving, 62 Thurman, Judith, 148–149 Tiberius, Emperor, 178–182 Toklas, Alice B., 279
Tolstoy, Leo, 45, 247–250 Truman, President Harry, 50 Trust, between biographer and
audience, 56–57, 189
Truth, in biography, 55–59, 64, 108–111. See also Ethical issues, in biography
Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens), 278 United States Supreme Court,
New York Times v. Sullivan, 19–20 Unsuitability, issue of, 35–40 Utility, of biography, 10–13
Valenti, Jack, 41 Vermeer, Johannes, An Allegory of
Painting, 48, 65 Victorian novel, 17–18 Von Hoffman, Nicholas, 34 Von Scheel-Plessen, Elizabeth, 72 Voyeurism, charge
of, 174–177
Warren, Robert Penn, 102, 115 Watson, James, 69–70, 302–306,
320–324 Waugh, Evelyn, 185–188 Weintraub, Stanley, 244 Welles, Orson, 119–120, 124 Wellington, Duke of (Arthur
Wellesley), 277 Wharton, Edith, 95, 263–265 Whistler, James McNeill, 244 Whitbread Award for Biography,
38 Widows and widowers, 221 Wilde, Oscar, 226–228 Wilkins, Maurice, 320 Wilson, A. N., 247–250 Wilson, Harriette,
276–278 Winfrey, Oprah, 314 Women: as biographical subjects,
16, 221; as autobiographers, 284–285. See also entries for individuals
Woolf, Virginia, 16, 35–36, 52, 125,
127–129, 140–141 Working title, 121 Work in progress, 60–62 World War I, 60, 80, 107, 295 World War II, 19, 80–91,
169–172,
197–198, 291–293, 299 Wright, Richard, 19 Writer, biographer as, 34 Writing style, of biography, 147–
148
Xenophon, 270–273
Yeats, W. B., 251–254 Yourcenar, Marguerite, 231–234 Youth, of biographical subject,
155–173


Ziegler, Philip, 83–84 Zinsser, William, 310–311, 315–316