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14 - Life Writing

from Part II - Prose Genres

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2021

By
Jay Parini
Edited by
Daniel Tyler
Daniel Tyler
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Whether in biography, the biographical novel, the memoir or various other subgenres of life writing, the writer must be responsibly committed to both truth and imagination, to both fact and fiction. Jay Parini’s chapter considers a wide range of life writing and observes the various priorities afforded to truth and imagination in the work. Whatever access to archives, testimonies and evidence life writers need, they need above all, in Parini’s phrase, ‘access to the resources of language’.

Keywords

life writingbiographymemoirbiographical fictionimaginationtruthhistory
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Prose , pp. 233 - 246
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Life Writing
  • Edited by Daniel Tyler, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Prose
  • Online publication: 05 November 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108939201.017
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  • Life Writing
  • Edited by Daniel Tyler, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Prose
  • Online publication: 05 November 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108939201.017
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Life Writing
  • Edited by Daniel Tyler, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Prose
  • Online publication: 05 November 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108939201.017
Available formats
×