Biography, vol. 21, no. 2 (Spring 1998)
Editor’s Note, p. iii
ARTICLES
The Remasculinization of the Artist and Author in Ford Madox
Ford’s Life Writing, pp. 153-174
Bette H. Kirschstein
Ford Madox Ford’s lifelong ambivalence about the "manliness"
of his profession led him to a number of efforts to affirm his
masculinity, the most sustained of which took place in his life
writing. When famous artists and authors appear in his autobiography,
memoirs, literary portraits, or biographical sketches, he often
"remasculinizes" them, presenting them as conventionally,
and sometimes exaggeratedly, virile.
Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ethnographic Imagination in The
Life of Charlotte Bronte, pp. 175-194
Maria H. Frawley
This article examines ethnographic strategies and rhetoric invoked
by Elizabeth Gaskell in her influential biography, tracing its
roots both to Charlotte Bronte’s own self-representations
and to a specific historical moment in mid-nineteenth-century
British culture associated with imperialism abroad and with internal
colonialism at home. The Life of Charlotte Bronte reveals
the complex correspondence between the language and nostalgic
impulses of the "biographer-persona" and the ethnographer,
both situated at an important juncture of cultural history.
SKETCHES FROM LIFE
Philip Larkin -- An American View, pp. 195-205
Dale Salwak
Dale Salwak combines affectionate memories of his meetings and
correspondence with the English poet Philip Larkin and personal
enthusiasm for his work with a candid assessment of his reputation
in America since the "revelations" of Andrew Motion’s
biography and Anthony Thwaite’s edition of the Selected
Letters. Should the revelations in any way deter us from wanting
to read Larkin’s work? Should they affect our assessment
of the work, other than perhaps to open wider possibilities of
interpretation? These are among the questions Salwak addresses
as he examines some reactions to Larkin’s life, work, and
reputation since his passing.
REVIEWS, pp. 206-232
REVIEWED ELSEWHERE, pp. 233-269
Excerpts from recent reviews of biographies, autobiographies,
and other works of interest.
LIFELINES, pp. 270-271
Upcoming events, calls for papers, and news from the field.
CONTRIBUTORS, pp. 272-273
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