Biography, vol. 19, no. 4 (Fall 1996)
ARTICLES
P. K. Page's Brazilian Journal: Language Shock,
pp. 355-370
Denise Adele Heaps
P. K. Page's Brazilian Journal documents the Canadian poet's
two-year sojourn in Brazil in the 1950s. Page undergoes a specific
manifestation of culture chock called language shock, a linguistic
disorientation which results in a disturbing poetic writer's block.
Out of this creative void emerges a visual artist. By painting
and drawing everything she sees, Page constructs a bridge over
the space of the culturally and linguistically unfamiliar. This
Brazilian metamorphosis from poet to artist leads Page to question
the interconnections between identity, culture, discourse, and
language.
An "Orpheus Complex" in Two Writers-of-Loss,
pp. 371-393
William Todd Schultz
Writers James Agee and Jack Kerouac each experienced a death in
the family at an early age, and each went on tirelessly to document
the event in great detail and in various artistic contexts. This
article takes Agee and Kerouac to be exemplars of a potentially
generalizable profile of writers-of-loss—an "Orpheus
Complex." How a loss-afflicted personality structure both
mediates and invites creative responses is elucidated.
Cabrera Infante as Biographer, pp. 394-403
Kenneth E. Hall
Guillermo Cabrera Infante has not been closely studied for his
stylistically interesting biographical work. Cabrera Infante pays
homage to some prominent biographers. He has written many capsule
biographies, both comic and serious. References to many figures,
especially Fidel Castro, appear also within larger works, including
Mea Cuba (1992).
Combative Spirituality and the Life of Benjamin E. Mays,
pp. 404-416
Stephen Preskill
Using Cornel West's concept of combative spirituality, the author
recounts incidents from the life of educator and civil rights
activist Benjamin E. Mays. Emboldened by the support and confidence
he derived from his family and community, Mays devoted his life
to challenging racism wherever he encountered it. As president
of Morehouse College, Mays influenced many civil rights leaders,
including Martin Luther King, Jr., and helped to establish the
climate for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
The essay concludes with the suggestion that the leadership exerted
by Mays is the type needed today to address our most pressing
social problems.
Mark Twain: God's Fool Redux, pp. 417-427
Laura Skandera-Trombley
This article is derived from a roundtable discussion organized
by the author to celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of Hamlin
Hill's Mark Twain: God's Fool. In addition to recognizing
Hill's work in biography, the time seemed right to access the
plethora of new scholarship on Twain and to discuss biography
as a genre and how this affects Twain studies.
Bibliography of Works About Life-Writing, pp. 428-433
Phyllis E. Wachter
A selected bibliography of recent works about life-writing (twelfth
in the series that began with Biography 8:4, Fall 1985).
REVlEWS, pp. 434-439
Reviews of new books.
REVIEWED ELSEWHERE, pp. 440-472
Extracts of reviews of biographies published in other sources.
LIFELINES, pp. 473-474
Notes and announcements
INDEX, pp. 475-476
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