A Higher Form of Cannibalism?: Adventures in the Art and Politics of Biography [Hardcover]

Carl E. Rollyson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2005

"We used to canonize our heroes," Oscar Wilde wrote. "The modern method is to vulgarize them. Cheap editions of great books may be delightful, but cheap editions of great men are absolutely detestable." Since Wilde's condemnation of modern biography, the genre would appear to have accelerated its descent into bad taste. As Carl Rollyson points out, writers as various as Rebecca West, Ted Hughes, and Joyce Carol Oates have deplored biographers' tendency to cut up lives and render the bloody data so as to make their subjects seem unhealthy, unwholesome, and unsound. Janet Malcolm has compared biographers to burglars; modern novels feature the biographer as grave robber and victimizer. Exactly when did biography take this turn for the worse? Inquiring into the history of the art, and examining his own practices as well as those of biographers from Samuel Johnson to Richard Ellmann, Jeffrey Meyers, and many others, Mr. Rollyson casts considerable doubt on the indictments handed down by Oates, Malcolm and Co. By its very nature, Mr. Rollyson argues, biography is a problematic and controversial genre. That contemporary critics believe it has gone astray only reveals their ignorance of history and their hostility to the biographical enterprise itself—an animosity born of a misguided modernism and a rejection of Enlightenment values. A Higher Form of Cannibalism? explores the nexus between scholarship and biography, and demonstrates how the similarities of method between Leon Edel and Kitty Kelley outweigh the differences. Viewed through the prism of biography, the scholarly and the popular may not be as clearly separated as people suppose.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A candid and revealing account, by an expert in the minefield of the biographer’s contentious work. I’ve been writing lives for thirty years and learned a lot from it. (Jeffrey Meyers )

Carl Rollyson is not only the author of several accomplished biographies of major American cultural figures, he is also a discerning critic of the art of life writing. These witty and wise essays help explain some of the reasons we find biographies such compelling and engaging reading, especially in the area of conflict between the interests of the biographer and the rights of the resistant subject. Boswell would be delighted. (M. Thomas Inge )

A first rate and successful biographer himself, Carl Rollyson here takes us along on an audacious and daring tour...of the art and craft of biography, past and present (and always bravely personal).... Bright, witty, persuasive, this is a book worthy of our best attention. (George Garrett )

Speaking as a biographer, I wish Carl Rollyson had shown a touch more restraint when exposing certain details about our profession. But as a reader… Oh, dear, I must confess to lapping up every single one of his stories and wanting more. ...A witty, informative, and hugely entertaining book that is chock-full of food for thought, especially if one happens to be a biographer. (Marion Meade )

This book does an excellent job of illuminating the process and criticism of this popular form of writing. (Peter Terry Foreword )

Carl Rollyson...is in the perfect position to provide an insider's perspective on the subject he knows best. (Bookwatch )

The greatest virtue of A Higher Form of Cannibalism...is in its honesty. (Martin Simpson Salem Press Online )

Rollyson’s discussion of writing and evaluating biography is revealing and stimulating, making this a good read. (J.J. Benardete, New School University Choice )

The book is so uninhibited...that most readers will find plenty to...admire. (Mark A. Heberle Claremont Review Of Books )

About the Author

Carl Rollyson has written biographies of Rebecca West, Norman Mailer, Martha Gellhorn, Lillian Hellman, Marilyn Monroe, and (with Lisa Paddock) Susan Sontag. A graduate of Michigan State University and the University of Toronto, he is professor of English at Baruch College of the City University of New York and a longtime student of the art of biography. He lives in Cape May County, New Jersey.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee; First edition (March 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566636426
• ISBN-13: 978-1566636421
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,496,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Examines the foundations of biographical writing, July 3, 2005

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Higher Form of Cannibalism?: Adventures in the Art and Politics of Biography (Hardcover)

Carl Rollyson's A Higher Form Of Cannibalism? questions whether the enthusiasm over biography has in fact led to its downfall into bad taste. Carol Rollyson is himself a biographer, so is in the perfect position to provide an insider's perspective on the subject he knows best, offering chapters which use anecdotes and criticism to examine the foundations of biographical writing. His own practices as well as those of fellow biographers are put to the critical test in a lively survey of the relationships between scholarship, biography and popular culture.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging adventures; this man knows how to tell a story., June 14, 2005

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Richard L. Pangburn (Bardstown, KY USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Higher Form of Cannibalism?: Adventures in the Art and Politics of Biography (Hardcover)

This is an entertaining and informative book about the difficulties authors face when attempting a biography. The battles are chronicled between biographer and subject, and sometimes between biographer and book, and then between biographer and reviewer.

Conflicts? What is irrelevant and what is fair game? When sources conflict, which is to be believed? Does it matter whether the subject agrees or approves of what you print? What ethics apply?

Detailing his own experiences with subjects like Lillian Hellmann, Norman Mailer, Martha Gellhorn, and the late Susan Sontag, the author shows how the decisions are made, and the reasoning behind those decisions.

This is a handsome hardcover with easy-to-read print. There is a complete index, and his sources are given. Some of the books he discusses I now must find and buy, and the amplifying end notes are helpful in this regard. A five-star-book, and a pleasure to read and own.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Apologia Biographica, June 9, 2005

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Charlus "charlus" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Higher Form of Cannibalism?: Adventures in the Art and Politics of Biography (Hardcover)

In this vigorous and entertaining defense of the biographer's art, Rollyson freely admits to the immoral stance biographer's take towards their "victims" and staunchly defends the "warts and all" approach. Boswell and Samuel Johnson are brought into court as co-defendents, along with Kitty Kelly and a host of others. The author has no kind words to say for "critics and reviewers", clearly to him the vermin of the literary world, and feels much aggrieved by his unjust treatment at their hands.

While one may be less than convinced by his arguments, and be irritated by his frequent whining of being much put upon, his chatty tone, wealth of biographical lore and surprising revelations about the biographer's trade make this in the end a very worthwhile read.