THE ART OF BIOGRAPHY
November 9-13, 2008

Lytton Strachey referred to the art of biography as “the most delicate and humane of all the branches of the art of writing,” adding that “it is perhaps as difficult to write a good life as to live one.”

This second CCA of the 2008-2009 academic year will consider the purposes and elements of biography, the extent to which the art of biography has evolved, objectivity and subjectivity in biography, and the idea of “historical fiction.”

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9

8:00 p.m. “The ‘Evolution’ of Biography”
               Nigel Hamilton
               Author, Biography: A Brief History

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10

4:00 p.m.  “Caesar’s Life and Times: The Historical Record”
                Adrian Goldsworthy
                Author, Caesar: Life of a Colossus 

8:00 p.m.  “The Importance of Context in Biography”
                George Marsden
                Author, Jonathan Edwards: A Life

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11

4:00 p.m. “What Can the Biography of a Poet Add?”
               Jay Parini
               Author, Robert Frost: A Life

8:00 p.m. “Memoir and Memory”
               Homer Hickam
               Author, Rocket Boys: A Memoir

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12

4:00 p.m. “Lessons from the Life of Elvis?”
               Peter Guralnick
               Author, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love: 
                  The Unmaking of Elvis Presley

8:00 p.m. “U.S. Grant: Character and Biography”
               Josiah Bunting
               Author, Ulysses S. Grant

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13

11:00 a.m. Faculty Roundtable

* All Speakers Confirmed