Why is it said that Biography is a particularly American form of literature?
1 Comment Published November 24th, 2009 in forms of literatureI have to write a paragraph on this topic.
I didn't even know that it was an American form of literature!
Thanks for any help!
Maybe you should qualify this by using the term Modern Biography.
The distinction between mass biography and literary biography which had formed by mid nineteenth century reflected a breach between high culture and middle-class culture. This division would endure for the remainder of the century. Biography began to flower thanks to new publishing technologies and an expanding reading public. This revolution in publishing made books available to a larger audience of readers. Almost ten times as many American biographies appeared from 1840 to 1860 than had appeared in the first two decades of the century. In addition, affordable paperback editions of popular biographies were published for the first time. Also, American periodicals began publishing series of biographical sketches. (Casper, 1999) The topical emphasis shifted from republican heroes to self-made men.
Maybe you should qualify this by using the term Modern Biography.
The distinction between mass biography and literary biography which had formed by mid nineteenth century reflected a breach between high culture and middle-class culture. This division would endure for the remainder of the century. Biography began to flower thanks to new publishing technologies and an expanding reading public. This revolution in publishing made books available to a larger audience of readers. Almost ten times as many American biographies appeared from 1840 to 1860 than had appeared in the first two decades of the century. In addition, affordable paperback editions of popular biographies were published for the first time. Also, American periodicals began publishing series of biographical sketches. (Casper, 1999) The topical emphasis shifted from republican heroes to self-made men.
References :
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biography#Modern_biography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitzer_Prize_for_Biography_or_Autobiography