The Impossible Craft: Literary Biography

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.; Explores the challenges and rewards faced by literary biographers. Details the author's experiences writing the lives of writers including Edwin Arlington Robinson, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Cheever, and Archibald MacLeish--Provided by publisher. Review Quotes: "Scott Donaldson's The Impossible Craft is a revealing, entertaining, and ultimately inspiring look at a literary form that too many readers assume is a simple matter of compiling chronologies and presenting dry facts dug up through research. In discussing the art of biography--in particular, literary biography, in which the subject isn't just an important literary figure but the telling of the life subscribes to its own high standards of narrative craft and execution--Donaldson proves why he is regarded as a master of this genre. In exploring such nuts-and-bolts issues as the proprieties of interviewing and securing permissions, he offers practical advice to aspiring biographers. This book is so much more than a primer or how-to guide, however. Donaldson plumbs the dangers of overidentifying with one's subject and of ramrodding a single thesis across a lifespan. He examines the ethical challenges of judging the relevance of details, of the repercussions of including unflattering information, and the consequences for one's credibility of suppressing it. He assures us that biographers inevitably get some things wrong and that what they get right is sometimes serendipitous. He also tells us exactly what we shouldn't expect biography to do. "At the core of the book are case histories involving the writers Donaldson has spent his career studying. One brilliant section explores the behind-the-scenes rivalries and conflicting agendas that doomed Edwin Arlington Robinson's first biographer, Hermann Hagedorn, to produce a pedestrian 'life of . . .' that may have stymied critical interest in a poet who didn't deserve to fall out of fashion (or to have his name so often incorrectly cited as Edward). Another chapter examines how F. Scott Fitzgerald's many biographers incrementally embellished upon the few certifiable facts known about Zelda's 1924 "affair" with a French aviator to dramatize a central episode in the couple's fabled romance. Finally, Donaldson returns twenty-five years later to the story of his own exasperating dealings with the estate of John Cheever over a project that nearly drove him out of the business. At once admitting mistakes and yet defending his turf, Donaldson shows how biography is always personal."Interwoven with autobiographical anecdotes and propelled by fascinating stories, The Impossible Craft explains why the writing of biographies is often as conflicted, emotionally fraught, and downright messy as the lives they document."--Kirk Curnutt, author of Coffee with HemingwayReview Quotes: "There may not be another writer in America more qualified than Scott Donaldson to meditate on the agonies--and separate-peace victories--of the literary biographer. He has delivered a biography of biography-making, and he doesn't spare us his mistakes and regrets."--Paul Hendrickson, author of Hemingway's Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and LostReview Quotes: "Being a seasoned practitioner, Scott Donaldson understands the complexities, challenges, and delights of literary biography. This is a fine take on an ancient, often misunderstood, craft. A welcome addition to one of the least theorized of all genres."--Jay Parini, author of Robert Frost: A LifeReview Quotes: "Scott Donaldson brings several decades of experience as a literary biographer to The Impossible Craft--a fascinating study of how and why biographies are written. How does a biographer develop a persona and a voice? How does a biographer deal with the literary heirs? Must the biographer like the subject? Is biography a craft, as the title of this book implies, or an art, or something else? Scott Donaldson has earned the right to have his say on all of these matters."--James L. W. West III, Pennsylvania State UniversityTable of Contents: Contents Abbreviations 1 BeginningsBiography: A Background SketchBecoming a BiographerAnd Then I Wrote . . . The Editor's Hand: HemingwayFitzgerald and the CraftThe Amazing Archibald MacLeishA Dual Biography of Fitz and HemRecovering RobinsonOther Chores, On to Fenton2 Topics in Literary BiographyFact and FictionWriters as SubjectsEthical IssuesSources: LettersSources: Interviews3 The Impossible CraftThe Issue of InvolvementTrying to Capture HemingwayThe Mythical Ideal BiographerWhat Biography Can't DoAnd Yet . . . 4 Case StudiesTelling Robinson's Story: The Fight over a Poet's BonesSummer of '24: Zelda's AffairHemingway's Battle with Biographers, 1949-19545 The Cheever MisadventureWriting the CheeverThe LawsuitThe Next BiographyBibliographyPublisher Marketing: In The Impossible Craft, Scott Donaldson explores the rocky territory of literary biography, the most difficult that biographers try to navigate. Writers are accustomed to controlling the narrative, and notoriously opposed to allowing intruders on their turf. They make bonfires of their papers, encourage others to destroy correspondence, write their own autobiographies, and appoint family or friends to protect their reputations as official biographers. Thomas Hardy went so far as to compose his own life story to be published after his death, while falsely assigning authorship to his widow. After a brief background sketch of the history of biography from Greco-Roman times to the present, Donaldson recounts his experiences in writing biographies of a broad range of twentieth-century American writers: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Cheever, Archibald MacLeish, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Winfield Townley Scott, and Charlie Fenton. Donaldson provides readers with a highly readable insiders' introduction to literary biography. He suggests how to conduct interviews, and what not to do during the process. He offers sound advice about how closely biographers should identify with their subjects. He examines the ethical obligations of the biographer, who must aim for the truth without unduly or unnecessarily causing discomfort or worse to survivors. He shows us why and how misinformation comes into existence and tends to persist over time. He describes "the mythical ideal biographer," an imaginary creature of universal intelligence and myriad talents beyond the reach of any single human being. And he suggests how its very impossibility makes the goal of writing a biography that captures the personality of an author a challenge well worth pursuing. Contributor Bio:  Donaldson, Scott Scott E. Donaldson has more than 30 years of experience managing complex programs (ranging from 10's of millions to 100's of millions); expertise in systems development, process improvement, and technical cultural change. He is a Senior Vice President for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for its multi-billion dollar Health, Energy and Civilian Solutions Group. He teaches graduate courses in software engineering, software process improvement, and information technology at Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering. He has a B. S., Operations Research from the United States Naval Academy and a M. S., Systems Management from the University of Southern California. Mr. Donaldson co-authored the software engineering books Successful Software Development: Making It Happen, Prentice Hall PTR, 2nd Edition; Successful Software Development: Study Guide, Prentice Hall PTR; and Cultivating Successful Software Development: A Practitioner's View, Prentice Hall PTR. He has contributed to the Encyclopedia of Software Engineering: Project Management--Success Factors, CRC Press and the Handbook of Software Quality Assurance: Software Configuration Management--A Practical Look, 3rd Edition.