Biography, vol. 19, no. 2 (Spring 1996)
ARTICLES
Claiming Personas and Rejecting Other-Imposed Identities:
Self-Writing as Self-Righting in the Autobiographies of Richard
Rodriguez, pp. 119-136
Laura Fine
This article concerns Rodriguez's attempt to shape his own identities
in defiance of the identities his family and his critics have
tried to impose on him. His texts witness a tension between self-revelation
and self-masking more complex than his critics have given him
credit for.
Unmasking Another Villain in Conrad Aiken's Autobiographical
Dream, pp. 137-157
Kenneth Womack
The role of British poet and novelist Martin Armstrong as a fictionalized
character in Conrad Aiken's controversial volume Ushant
remains unexplicated in the mélange of criticism dedicated
to unraveling the vague threads of Aiken's autobiography. Once
Aiken's treasured guide and friend, Armstrong terminated his twenty-year
friendship with Aiken in 1929 when he married Aiken's estranged
first wife, Jessie McDonald. Using unpublished personal correspondence,
this essay reveals Aiken's carefully structured attack on Armstrong
in Ushant, as well as the unusual biographical factors
that motivated Aiken's desire for revenge.
Cross-Dressing for (Imaginary) Battle: Vita Sackville-West's
Biography of Joan of Arc, pp. 158-177
Karyn Z. Sproles
This article explores Sackville-West's transferential relationship
with Joan of Arc through a close textual analysis of the rhetorical
devices the biographer uses to repress challenges to her identification
with her biographical subject—an identification that centers
around conflicts in feminine sexuality and gender identity.
The Two Faces of Jonathan Belcher: An Exercise in Biography
as Synthesis, pp. 178-197
Michael C. Batinski
Jonathan Belcher's behavior as governor of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire (1730-41) is explained by examining formative family
experiences. By illustrating connections between private and public
life, this essay serves to integrate social and political history,
and thereby demonstrates the advantages gained from writing history
from a biographical perspective.
REVlEWS, pp. 198-205
Reviews of new books.
REVIEWED ELSEWHERE, pp. 206-234
Extracts of reviews of biographies published in other sources.
LIFELINES, p. 235
Notes and announcements
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