The question
for July's meme is:
“Have you ever read a biography on a classic author? If so, tell us about it. If you had already read works by this author, did reading a biography of his/her life change your perspective on the author’s writing? Why or why not?”
I am not a
biography fan, so I have not read much of it. But I was really interested in
Dickens’ life, particularly in his love affair with Nelly Ternan. I felt like
there were two different personalities in Dickens which I’d like to know more.
However, instead of reading Claire Tomalin’s biography on Charles Dickens, I
picked her The Invisible Woman, which is Nelly Ternan’s biography. Maybe
I thought seeing Dickens from Nelly’s perspective would be more
interesting….and honest.
Reading it
changed my thoughts about Dickens personalities, which I have been gathering from
his writings all these times. Now I see him just as a imperfect human being who
can make mistakes. He had principles, and he knew what’s right and wrong, but
like us, he could not resist the temptation.
Did it change
my perspective on his writings? It did, but in a positive way. Now that I know
Dickens better, my thoughts towards conflicts and characters in his books
change a bit. And whenever I read about some cases, I might think to myself,
could they be influenced by a certain experience in his life? Knowing Dickens
better only makes me more related to his books, and makes the reading experience
more familiar.
Now I am
curious about Émile Zola’s biography: The
Life and Times of Emile Zola by F.W.J. Hemmings. That will be the next
biography of classics author I am going to read. How about you? Have you read
any biography on Dickens and Zola? How about other authors’?
I think the Nellie Ternan bio would be interesting too. Gosh, why are there so many books, so many authors. It is so hard choosing among them all.
ReplyDeleteLOL, agree! So many books, so many authors, so little time... ;)
DeleteFrederick Brown's biography of Zola's is very good, and I've also read Angus Wilson's, which I also enjoyed :)
ReplyDeleteI must check on those two, thanks for the reference!
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