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Two Critics — One Right, One Wrong

Aug 14, 2014
by Caroline Miller
Adam Kirsch, literary biography, New York Times Book Review, The Intentional Fallacy, Thomas Mallon
2 Comments

A few days after I published my blog, The Intentional Fallacy, (blog 8/8/14), a friend sent me a page from the Sunday edition of the New York Times Book Review. (July 29, pg. 31.)  It contained two articles, one by Thomas Mallon and the other by Adam Kirsch, each taking different views on the same question:  Does knowing about the personal life of an author help interpret his or her work?   Mallon took the view that biography was irrelevant. Kirsch thought it gave readers insights, not for the purpose of gossip, but to reveal themes that may dominate an author’s work.

 “Good Heavens!” I cried after reading Kirsch’s remarks.  If biography isn’t about gossip then why did I drag myself through Samuel Pepys’ Diary  in college?  Without the promise of gossip, what red blooded 19 year-old would choose to pour over 17 century scribblings rather than sip lattes in the school coffee shop with some gorgeous, moody poetry major?

 Gossip notwithstanding, I’m afraid Mallon has it right.  Literary biography has little value when coming to grips with art.  What’s more, I give him credit for raising a point which had  escaped me: that literary biography may soon be as  dead as boom boxes.  The reason?   Because manuscripts are no longer written in longhand or typed with multiple carbon paper copies, for the most part.  Today,  the click of a mouse erases any record of previous versions of a work.   Gone, too,  are the notes and scraps of paper a biographer used to sift through in the hope capturing a  glimpse of the genius behind the art.  Unfortunately, Hemingway didn’t write with a computer.  Otherwise, we might have been spared an entire library dedicated to his banal notes which included instructions to his cook about the contents of his salad.  (Blog 10/11/ 2011)  

 As Mallon suggests, most writers lead plain lives.   Most days, you’ll find them sitting at their desks, working their craft.   Their adventures lie not in their biographies but in their heads.  As a writer, I know I make a dull friend and admit to loathing most social engagements.   What I like to do is write and after that I read.  “That is all ye know of me on earth and all ye need to  know.”

skeleton at a computer

Courtesy of www.sodahead.com

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2 Comments
  1. Susan Stoner August 17, 2014 at 10:53 am Reply
    Caroline, "Dull" is the last word I'd apply to you and I am sure your other friends agree! S
    • Caroline Miller August 17, 2014 at 12:55 pm Reply
      You are too kind.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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