Description
This course will analyse the notion and development of lifescripting in a variety of historical contexts. The term is used to indicate a field of study that overlaps with and comprehends a variety of fields including biography, hagiography, sacred biography, historical life-writing (including the biography of ‘great men’ and hero-worship), literary biography, autobiography, ghost-writing, fake biography and ordinary people’s lives. Necessarily selective, this course will focus on some of the most notable examples and samples of these various ‘genres’ over time. It will take a chronological approach, and assess and analyse the main characteristics of biography over an extended period of time, beginning with biography in the Ancient World and concluding with ordinary people’s lives in the contemporary era.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
Ìý