Biography is probably my second-favorite genre. Until recently, I thought I liked biographies and didn’t care for autobiographies. Now, I’m beginning to think I had it backwards.
I read Andre Agassi’s “Open” earlier this year and loved it. Because it’s an autobiography, the reader is constantly moving from scene to scene within Agassi’s life. It gives the story more of a narrative feel, though there are ocasional bouts of (much needed and appreciated) exposition. Also, the story moves chronologically, allowing us to watch the character change and grow.
Now, I’m reading Walter Isaacson’s “Benjamin Franklin,” and I feel the exact opposite. There are no scenes. There is almost no narrative, in part because Isaacson tends to tell the story based on topics, rather than chronologically. I know the chapters are technically chronological, but that isn’t how the story is organized. I just finished the chapter that told of his first child, and, within seconds of the child being born, we’re reading about him as an 18-year-old.
I’m curious what other people think of this distinction, between biographies that read like narratives and those that read more like encyclopedias. I know it isn’t strictly autobiography vs. biography.
My hunch is that it has a lot to do with the time period that the subject lived in. Isaacson’s da Vinci biography had a similar problem, but Steve Jobs didn’t. And that makes perfect sense. It’s not a knock on the writer. Da Vinci lived 500 years ago, so the writer can’t depict “scenes” from his life. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs worked with Isaacson on the biography, giving us greater insight into the narrative aspects of his story.
Obviously, autobiographies have a distinct advantage (for me), then, because it allows the reader to get closer to the story.
The big exception to all of this Is Fawn Brodie’s “No Man Knows My History,” which I read last year. It’s a biography of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, who lived in the early 19th century. I loved it.
Do you have a preference for one kind of biography or the other? What are your favorite autobiographies?
I had a long list of biographies I wanted to read of figures from distant history, and now I’m thinking I should remove them from my reading list. Can you think of any biographies of historical figures that have more of a narrative feel to them?
by NorthWest247