Author's Lives

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

American-born Honan ( Jane Austen ), who teaches in England, here collects 21 of his essays on literary biography, plus a hitherto unpublished dialogue on Shakespeare's life. The pieces--perceptive and witty--explore biographical problems, draw comparisons and outline the author's concerns with the minds and lives of writers. In addition to discussing factors he thinks are relevant while a book is being researched and written, he illustrates, in part through delightful personal experiences, the range and flexibility of a biographer's feelings about authors' lives. Honan also compares and contrasts the approaches and styles of Leon Edel (``admirably detailed'' but also ``wearisome''), Richard Ellmann (``a profound and agonizing humility, the first requirement of a biographer'') and Lytton Strachey (``he would alter a fact, if need be, to save the rhythm of a sentence's ending''), as well as those of T. S. Eliot, William Irvine and Lionel Trilling. Highly readable scholarship. (July)

Booknews

Honan (English, U. of Leeds), biographer of Jane Austen and Matthew Arnold, discusses practical theory as well as the English tradition of the genre; new approaches to Austen's life; and writers whose work he regards as quality biographical prose. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)