One almost never encounters a private library that does not contain on its shelves one or more biographies.
As a genre, the biography dates back to at least the 5th century BCE, although at that time the genre was known as lives (such as Xenophon's Life of Agesilaus). As the genre developed over the centuries, the hagiography so characteristic of the earliest biographies became more nuanced, as authors sought to give a more detailed and critical view of their subject. With the advent of disciplines such as psychology and sociology, additional tools were brought to bear upon the critical examination of the lives of others. In our modern world, biographers frequently focus on the warts in their subject's lives, often to the exclusion of personality traits that offset such negatives:
Folks building a private library that is focused on the work of one or more authors usually have on their shelves a number of biographies about such author(s), in addition to the author's own works, criticism of such works and so forth. This helps the collector better understand the context within which an author developed and published particular titles, the forces in the author's own life that may have driven him or her to pen the title in question, and so on.
But other collectors simply are interested in learning more about a particular individual or individuals. Perhaps because that individual was a great political leader. Or was a well-known scientist. Or was an inventor whose invention(s) may have changed the course of history. Or was a distinguished member of one's own family.
Over the next several days we will examine this genre in a bit more detail. We will begin by looking at some classical biographies of centuries past....
Recent Comments