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

传记回忆录是一种新兴的非常成功的人生写作形式。《传记回忆录》是一种混合文本，既有第一人称回忆录，也有传记题材：在海伦·麦克唐纳的传记回忆录《H代表鹰》中，我们对麦克唐纳的了解与对T·H·怀特的了解一样多，正如我在《现代文学杂志》上即将发表的一篇文章中所讨论的那样。尽管埃德蒙·德·瓦尔、海伦·麦克唐纳、奥利维亚·莱恩、亚当·尼科尔森等人的当代生物回忆录在评论界和商业上取得了成功，但关于这一体裁的批评性和理论性讨论很少。这篇论文将论证这一新的体裁被生活写作体裁中的三个关键创新所最清楚地描绘出来。首先，对身体、物质性和视觉性的新关注。这些文本的特点是传记作者的身体、触觉和视觉呈现，吸引了人们对关于作者主体性和实践的学科中的重要问题的关注。第二，作者角色的两大转变。在生物回忆录中，写作主体是叙事中的重要人物，与传记主体截然不同。这对文学理论中长期以来对作者角色的关注提出了质疑。此外，主观作者的存在有助于在生活写作研究中对合法性和真实性进行持久的辩论。这两个问题都为理解当代作者提供了一条新的途径。第三，传记揭示了电视、社交媒体和名人的强大影响力。在我进行的一次采访中，Hodder&Stoughton的非小说出版人Kirty Topiwala指出了作者存在的商业吸引力：“它感觉与博客和社交媒体时代同步。”在评估生物回忆录的影响时，我们可以揭示文化习惯是如何塑造当今文学的，这使这项研究具有重要意义和相关性。本论文将对生平写作的研究做出适时的、独到的贡献。

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.