1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910959992703321

Autore

Boldrini Lucia

Titolo

Autobiographies of others : historical subjects and literary fiction / / Lucia Boldrini

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; New York, : Routledge, ©2012

New York : , : Routledge, , 2012

ISBN

1-136-28325-0

1-283-58711-4

9786613899569

0-203-11264-4

1-136-28326-9

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (236 p.)

Collana

Routledge studies in twentieth-century literature ; ; 26

Disciplina

809.3/82

Soggetti

Autobiographical fiction - History and criticism

Biographical fiction - History and criticism

Historical fiction - History and criticism

Fiction - 20th century - History and criticism

Biography as a literary form

Characters and characteristics in literature

Literature and history

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: the portrait of a voice -- Heterobiography and the utopia of man -- Heterobiography, violence, and the law -- The madness of the documentary and the aesthetics of the body -- The author? in theory, dead: heterobiography and responsibility -- The polluted swamp: heterobiography, dialogue, and history -- Conclusions.

Sommario/riassunto

In this volume, Boldrini examines "heterobiography"-the first-person fictional account of a historic life. Boldrini shows that this mode is widely employed to reflect critically on the historical and philosophical understanding of the human; on individual identity; and on the power relationships that define the subject. In such texts, the grammatical first person becomes the site of an encounter, a stage where the



relationships between historical, fictional and authorial subjectivities are played out and explored in the 'double I' of author and narrating historical character, of fictional narrator and historical person. Boldrini considers the ethical implications of assuming another's first-person voice, and the fraught issue of authorial responsibility. Constructions of the body are examined in relation to the material evidence of the subject's existence. Texts studied include Malouf's An Imaginary Life, Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang, Ondaatje's The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Adair's The Death of the Author, Banti's Artemisia, Vázquez Montalbán's Autobiografía del general Franco. Also discussed, among others: Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian, Tabucchi's The Last Three Days of Fernando Pessoa, Giménez-Bartlett's Una habitación ajena (A Room of Someone Else's).