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The Biographical Turn: Lives in History PDF

305 Pages·2016·2.12 MB·English
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL TURN The Biographical Turn showcases the latest research through which the field of biography is being explored. Fifteen leading scholars in the field present the biographical perspective as a scholarly research methodology, investigating the consequences of this bottom-up approach and illuminating its value for different disciplines. While biography has been on the rise in academia since the 1980s, this volume highlights the theoretical implications of the biographical turn that is changing the humanities. Chapters cover subjects such as gender, religion, race, new media and microhistory, presenting biography as a research methodology suited not only for historians but also for explorations in areas including literature studies, sociology, economics and politics. By emphasising agency, the use of primary sources and the critical analysis of context and historiography, this book demonstrates how biography can function as a scholarly methodology for a wide range of topics and fields of research. International in scope, The Biographical Turn emphasises that the individual can have a lasting impact on the past and that lives that are now forgotten can be as important for the historical narrative as the biographies of kings and presidents. It is a valuable resource for all students of biography, history and historical theory. Hans Renders is Professor of History and the Director of the Biography Institute at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. His publications include Theoretical Discussions of Biography: Approaches from History, Microhistory, and Life Writing (2014). He is the cofounder of Biographers International Organization (BIO), the Vice-President of the Biography Society/la Société de Biographie and a jury member for the Plutarch Award for best American biography. Binne de Haan is a research staff member of the Biography Institute at the University of Groningen. His publications include Theoretical Discussions of Biography: Approaches from History, Microhistory, and Life Writing (2014), and an English translation of his PhD thesis Van Kroon tot Bastaard (From Prince to Pauper: Biography and the Individual Perspective in Historiography) is forthcoming. Jonne Harmsma is a PhD researcher in the Biography Institute at the University of Groningen and is working on a biography of the Dutch Prime Minister and Central Bank President Jelle Zijlstra. THE BIOGRAPHICAL TURN Lives in history Edited by Hans Renders, Binne de Haan and Jonne Harmsma First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Hans Renders, Binne de Haan and Jonne Harmsma The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Renders, Hans, editor. | Haan, Binne de, editor. | Harmsma, Jonne Title: The biographical turn : lives in history / edited by Hans Renders, Binne de Haan and Jonne Harmsma. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016032750| ISBN 9781138939707 (hardback: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138939714 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315469577 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Biography. | Biography as a literary form. | History—Methodology. Classification: LCC CT21 .B4625 2016 | DDC 809/.93592—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016032750 ISBN: 978-1-13893970-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-13893971-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-31546957-7 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by diacriTech, Chennai CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of contributors INTRODUCTION 1 The biographical turn: Biography as critical method in the humanities and in society Hans Renders, Binne de Haan and Jonne Harmsma SECTION 1 The Biographical turn in the Humanities 2 Biography as corrective Nigel Hamilton 3 The plurality of the past: Historical time and the rediscovery of biography Sabina Loriga 4 The life is never over: Biography as a microhistorical approach Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon 5 Personalised history: On biofiction, source criticism and the critical value of biography Binne de Haan 6 The life effect: Literature studies and the biographical perspective Joanny Moulin 7 Biography as a concept of thought: On the premises of biographical research and narrative Christian Klein SECTION 2 The biographical turn in fields of knowledge 8 Biographies as multipliers: The First World War as turning point in the lives of modernist artists Hans Renders and Sjoerd van Faassen 9 ‘Honest politics’: A biographical perspective on economic expertise as a political style Jonne Harmsma 10 Rediscovering agency in the Atlantic: A biographical approach linking entrepreneurial spirit and overseas companies Kaarle Wirta 11 Building bridges to past centuries: Religion and empathy in early modern biography Enny de Bruijn 12 Palatable and unpalatable leaders: Apartheid and post-Apartheid Afrikaner biography Lindie Koorts SECTION 3 The biographical turn in academia and society 13 Biography is not a selfie: Authorisation as the creeping transition from autobiography to biography Hans Renders 14 What are we turning from? Research and ideology in biography and life writing Craig Howes 15 Liberation from low dark space: Biography beside and beyond the academy Carl Rollyson 16 From academic historian to popular biographer: Musings on the practical poetics of biography Debby Applegate Bibliography Index ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The editors would like to thank the Nicolaas Muleriusfonds Foundation for their generous support of this publication. Chapter 3, ‘The Plurality of the Past: Historical Time and the Rediscovery of Biography’, by Sabina Loriga, was translated by Chloe Morgan. Chapter 8, ‘Biographies as Multipliers: The First World War as Turning Point in the Lives of Modernist Artists’, by Hans Renders and Sjoerd van Faassen and Chapter 11, ‘Building Bridges to Past Centuries: Religion and Empathy in Early Modern Biography’, by Enny de Bruijn, were translated by Wichard Sam Boersma. Chapter 13, ‘Biography Is Not a Selfie: Authorisation as the Creeping Transition from Autobiography to Biography’, by Hans Renders, was translated by Sybren Bonnema. The author of Chapter 4, ‘The Life Is Never Over: Biography as a Microhistorical Approach’, Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon, expresses his gratitude for the support he has enjoyed from the Icelandic Research Fund (IRF, nr. 141237-051) during his research. Parts of Chapter 16, ‘From Academic Historian to Popular Biographer: Musings on the Practical Poetics of Biography’, by Debby Applegate, have been published before in: Leigh Eric Schmidt, Catherine Brekus, Nick Salvatore, Matthew Avery Sutton and Debby Applegate, ‘Forum’, Religion & American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation 24, 2014, 1–35. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Debby Applegate was a Sterling Fellow at Yale University where she earned her PhD in American Studies and has taught at Wesleyan and Yale Universities. Her first book, The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher (Doubleday 2006), won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. She is currently working on Madam: The Notorious Life and Times of Polly Adler (forthcoming from Doubleday). Enny de Bruijn studied Dutch language and literature at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, and is currently working as journalist and author in the field of literature and history. She earned her PhD in 2012 with a biography of the seventeenth-century poet and theologian Jacob Revius. She is currently working on a popular history book about seventeenth century farmers’ mentalities and country life in the Guelders River area in the Netherlands. Sjoerd van Faassen studied Dutch language and literature at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and was at great length Head of Collections at the Museum of Dutch Literature. He is currently a affiliated researcher at RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History. He published studies on Dutch literary history, especially on the history of cultural periodicals and publishers of the Interbellum. He is currently working on a biography about the Dutch artist, architect and theorist Theo van Doesburg (together with Hans Renders). Binne de Haan is a research staff member of the Biography Institute of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He earned his PhD in 2015 with the dissertation Van kroon tot bastaard. Biografie en het individuele perspectief in de geschiedschrijving (From Prince to Pauper: Biography and the Individual Perspective in Historiography), in which he analysed the relationship between biography and historiography. He has edited the volumes Theoretical Discussions of Biography. Approaches from History, Microhistory, and Life Writing (with Hans Renders, 2014) and Microhistory and the Picaresque Novel: A First Exploration into Commensurable Perspectives (with Konstantin Mierau,

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