Portraits from Life

Modernist Novelists and Autobiography

Jerome Boyd Maunsell

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English

Oxford University Press
25 January 2018

Literature, Poetry & Criticism; Literary studies: from c 1900 -; Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers

What happens when novelists write about their own lives directly, in memoirs and autobiographies, rather than in novels? How do they present themselves, and what do their self-portraits reveal? In a series of biographical case studies, Portraits from Life examines how seven canonical Modernist writers - Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, Henry James, Wyndham Lewis, Gertrude Stein, H.G. Wells, and Edith Wharton - depicted themselves in their memoirs and autobiographies during the first half of the twentieth century.

Drawing on a range of life-writing sources in this innovative group portrait, Jerome Boyd Maunsell reconstructs the periods during which these authors worked on their memoirs, often towards the end of their lives, and shows how memoirs and autobiographies are just as artful as novels. The seven portraits in the book also create a rich network of encounters, as many of these writers knew each other, and wrote about each other in their reminiscences.

Portraits from Life investigates the difficulties and possibilities of autobiography - the relation of fact and fiction, biography and autobiography; the ethical issues of dealing with real people; the thin generic lines between novels and autobiographies; and the deceptive workings of memory - and how all these writers dealt with these concerns as they looked back on their lives. An act of portraiture and biography as well as an act of criticism, moving from London to Paris and through two world wars, it also pieces together a fresh and constantly inter-connecting narrative of the Modernist era in England and France.

By: Jerome Boyd Maunsell
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 241mm, Width: 165mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 642g
ISBN: 9780198789369
ISBN 10: 019878936X
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 25 January 2018
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction 1: 'The Secret of My Life': Joseph Conrad 2: 'A Straight Dive into the Past': Henry James 3: 'For Facts a Most Profound Contempt': Ford Madox Ford 4: 'The Life Apart': Edith Wharton 5: 'Alive and Kicking': H.G. Wells 6: 'You are Never Yourself to Yourself': Gertrude Stein 7: 'My Life Being So Difficult a One to Live': Wyndham Lewis Epilogue

Jerome Boyd Maunsell is a writer and critic based in London. His first book was a short biography of Susan Sontag, published by Reaktion in 2014, and his essays have also appeared, among other publications, in frieze and the Times Literary Supplement. He received his BA from St Catherine's College, Oxford, his MA from UCL, and his PhD from King's College London. He was a Research Fellow in the Centre for Life-Writing Research at King's before taking up a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Kingston University, London.

Reviews for Portraits from Life: Modernist Novelists and Autobiography

Portraits from Life is a meticulously researched and thoroughly sourced book, presenting vivid portraits of its main (life) writing subjects in an accessible and engaging style. Despite their level of detail, its chapters are admirably concise and on-topic; they will undoubtedly entice many readers to seek out the largely forgotten autobiographical works by Conrad et al. * Dennis Kersten, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, biography * Thank heavens then for J. B. Maunsell's new study... which takes Wells seriously as an artist... [the] book is extremely well researched... Maunsell sets out his case with an extensive and deep knowledge of his subjects. Anyone who is interested in the seven writers under discussion is likely to learn something of value from this probing but appreciative examination of their work. * Michael Sherborne, The Wellsian: The Journal of the HG Wells Society * An overtly compelling read that endeavours to divulge the difficulties and possibilities of autobiography. * David Marx: Book Reviews * Beautiful, interesting, and attracting. These ones are the words for describing Portraits from Life Modernist, Novelists and Autobiography by Jerome Boyd Mansell... an enchanting book about modern novelists and their personal relationship with biography and auto-biography. * Anna Maria Polidori, Alfemminile * A unique angle of approach. * Charlotte Jones, Times Higher Education *