The Author is Present: Contemporary Bio-Memoir (2010-2020)

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The biographical memoir is a newly emergent and highly successful form of life-writing. 'Bio-memoirs' are hybrid texts featuring both first-person memoir and biographical subjects: in Helen Macdonald's bio-memoir, 'H is for Hawk', we discover as much about Macdonald as we do about T.H. White, as discussed in my forthcoming article in the 'Journal of Modern Literature'. Despite the critical and commercial success of contemporary bio-memoirs by Edmund de Waal, Helen Macdonald, Olivia Laing, Adam Nicolson and others, there is very little critical and theoretical discussion of the genre. This thesis will argue that this new genre is most clearly delineated by three crucial innovations in the genre of life-writing. First, a novel concern with the body, materiality and visuality. These texts are characterized by the physical, haptic and visual presence of the biographer, drawing attention to important questions in the discipline about authorial subjectivity and practice. Second, two major shifts in the role of the author. In bio-memoir, the writing subject is a significant figure in the narrative, quite distinct from the biographical subject. This poses questions to longstanding preoccupations in literary theory over the role of the author. In addition, the presence of the subjective author contributes to enduring debates of legitimacy and authenticity in the study of life-writing. Both these questions provide a new route into understanding contemporary authorship. Third, bio-memoir reveals the powerful influence of television, social media and celebrity. In an interview I conducted, Kirty Topiwala, Non-Fiction Publisher at Hodder & Stoughton, pointed to the commercial appeal of authorial presence: 'It feels in step with the age of blogging and social media'. In evaluating bio-memoir's influences, we can uncover how cultural habits shape today's literature, making this a significant and relevant study. This thesis will make a timely and original contribution to the study of life-writing.