Biographies are at their best when they convey that the subject is a three-dimensional human being who possesses an inner life. Psychobiography: In Search of the Inner Life offers tools for using psychological approaches when writing biography.. A leader in the field, James William Anderson, analyzes the effective use of psychology and what can go wrong, such as treating the biographical subject reductively, and failing to account for both historical and cultural context. Anderson recommends using psychology to open up, not close down; to provide new questions, not easy answers; to complicate, not simplify.
His lively inquiry into the art of biography--with its vignettes about people such as Oprah Winfrey, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Henry James, Simone de Beauvoir, Edith Wharton, and Anaïs Nin--will appeal to all readers who are curious about the lives of fascinating personages.
- ISBN10 0197602096
- ISBN13 9780197602096
- Publish Date 12 November 2024
- Publish Status Forthcoming
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 280
- Language English