Michael Lackey | University of Minnesota, Morris (original) (raw)
Books by Michael Lackey
Bloomsbury Academic, 2021
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and it has... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and it has become a dominant literary form over the last 35 years. What has not yet been scholarly acknowledged or documented is that the Irish played a crucial role in the origins, evolution, rise, and now dominance of biofiction.
Michael Lackey first examines the groundbreaking biofictions that Oscar Wilde and George Moore authored in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as the best biographical novels about Wilde (by Peter Ackroyd and Colm Tóibín). He then focuses on contemporary authors of biofiction (Sabina Murray, Graham Shelby, Anne Enright, and Mario Vargas Llosa, who Lackey has interviewed for this work) who use the lives of prominent Irish figures (Roger Casement and Eliza Lynch) to explore the challenges of seizing and securing a life-promoting form of agency within a colonial and patriarchal context.
In conclusion, Lackey briefly analyzes biographical novels by Peter Carey and Mary Morrissy to illustrate why agency is of central importance for the Irish, and why that focus mandated the rise of the biographical novel, a literary form that mirrors the constructed Irish interior.
Biofiction: An Introduction, 2021
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and this i... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and this is the introduction from my book, Biofiction: An Introduction. It is written primarily for undergraduate and graduate students.
Bloomsbury Academic, 2021
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and the st... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and the study of biofiction has surged over the last ten years, so much so that Bloomsbury Academic has just launched a new series devoted exclusively to the study of the literary form. Are you are a scholar? Do you have a pathbreaking idea about biofiction? If so, there is now a press that will advance and promote your work. Feel free to contact me about potential projects.
Conversations with Biographical Novelists: Truthful Fictions across the Globe, 2018
Olga Tokarczuk, Rosa Montero, Laurent Binet, Anchee Min, Colm Toibin, Colum McCann, Stephanus Mul... more Olga Tokarczuk, Rosa Montero, Laurent Binet, Anchee Min, Colm Toibin, Colum McCann, Stephanus Muller, Emma Donoghue, David Ebershoff, Chika Unigwe, and Hannah Kent are just some of the global luminaries whose interviews are contained in this new book of conversations with contemporary biographical novelists, which Bloomsbury released on October 18th. Here is the introduction to the book, which should give you a clear sense of the interviews.
London and New York: Continuum, 2012
We know that Hitler and the Nazis consistently called themselves Christian--they state this direc... more We know that Hitler and the Nazis consistently called themselves Christian--they state this directly in their Party Program, and Hitler makes this clear in many of his speeches. But what version of Christianity did they adopt? And how did that version enable them to justify their atrocities against the Jews? In this book, I use literature to examine various versions of Christianity that were operational in Nazi Germany. Some versions were tolerant and humane, while others, such as the one the Nazis adopted, were intolerant and inhumane. My ultimate claim is this: it is impossible to understand why the Holocaust happened without taking into account the Nazis' version of Christianity. The main writers that I discuss include Martin Luther, Immanuel Kant, Mikhail Bakunin, Joseph Conrad, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Adolf Hitler, Dietrich Eckart, Joseph Goebbels, Alfred Rosenberg, King Leopold II, Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, E.M. Forster, Friedrich Nietzsche, William Styron, David Mamet, Alice Walker, Louise Erdrich, William Faulkner, Milan Kundera, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison.
London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2016
In recent years, the biographical novel has supplanted the classical historical novel and become ... more In recent years, the biographical novel has supplanted the classical historical novel and become a dominant literary form. But why? And what exactly is the biographical novel? How does it picture history differently from the classical historical novel? How does it uniquely engage and critique the political? In this book, I answer these and many other questions. This is the first chapter from the book. In the other chapters, I examine biographical novels about figures such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Benjamin, Moses, Herod, Gabriel Prosser, Nat Turner, Sally Hemings, Alfred Rosenberg, and Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe.
London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2014
The biographical novel has become a dominant literary form in recent years. But why? I intervie... more The biographical novel has become a dominant literary form in recent years. But why? I interviewed prominent biographical novelists such as Michael Cunningham, Joyce Carol Oates, Julia Alvarez, Russell Banks, and Anita Diamant to get some answers. I have attached my introduction to the book, and the book contains my interviews with the authors. I am currently working on a new book of interviews with biographical novelists from across the globe. Bloomsbury will publish that book in late 2018, and it includes interviews with Colm Toibin, Emma Donoghue, Colum McCann, David Ebershoff, Chika Unigwe, Sabina Murray, Rosa Montero, David Lodge, Susan Sellers, Laurent Binet, and many others.
Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007
In this book, I argue that black atheists reject belief in God more for political than epistemolo... more In this book, I argue that black atheists reject belief in God more for political than epistemological reasons. The God-concept was frequently used as an ideological instrument for subjugating and violating blacks. Therefore, to make a more just polity possible, atheism is a political must. Included here is the introduction to the book.
Dissertation: University of Kentucky, 1999
God died in 1882, somewhere in Germany. But if God was the basis and foundation for our understan... more God died in 1882, somewhere in Germany. But if God was the basis and foundation for our understanding of love, what happens to love after the death of God? In my dissertation, I answer this question through my analysis of the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche and Virginia Woolf. Parts of the dissertation were published in essays for Philosophy and Literature, Journal of the History of Ideas, Studies in Short Fiction, Woolf Studies Annual, and Journal of Modern Literature.
New York and London: Bloomsbury, 2017
Bloomsbury has published the first anthology of biofiction. What is the nature of biofiction? H... more Bloomsbury has published the first anthology of biofiction. What is the nature of biofiction? How is it different from biography and historical fiction? How is it similar? What kind of "truth" does biofiction picture? How does it access and represent history and give us new ways of thinking about history? Hoe does it engage the political? This reader, which consists of a wide range of writings, answers these and many other questions.
Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2013
What is the best way to bring about racial healing and racial justice in the United States? This... more What is the best way to bring about racial healing and racial justice in the United States? This was a central question in the 1960s. Black separatists thought that the best approach was to establish separate but truly equal institutions. But black integrationists held that separatism leads necessarily to racial discrimination and has horribly negative consequences for blacks. While doing research about the black intellectual J. Saunders Redding, I discovered a manuscript, which is a transcription of a 1969 meeting with famous black integrationist writers, including Redding, Ralph Ellison, John Hope Franklin, Adelaide Cromwell Hill, St. Clair Drake, Phyllis Wallace, Kenneth Clark, and many other luminaries. The group discussed various forms of racism in the United States, brainstormed strategies for overcoming systemic racism, and devised a plan to counter the black separatist approach to racial justice. Strangely, this conversation is painfully relevant today, as we are still struggling in this country to come to terms with our racial history and situation. Here is my introduction, which provides a history of the group and the manuscript.
London and New York: Routledge, 2017
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure. There are... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure. There are in this book process pieces from prominent biographical novelists about the nature of their work as well as academic essays that define the nature of this aesthetic form. This volume brings some clarity and depth to our understanding of bioficiton. Here is a link to the book: https://www.routledge.com/Biofictional-Histories-Mutations-and-Forms/Lackey/p/book/9781138220393
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014
The biographical novel has become a dominant literary form in recent years. J.M. Coetzee, Michae... more The biographical novel has become a dominant literary form in recent years. J.M. Coetzee, Michael Cunningham, Russell Banks, Joyce Carol Oates, Hilary Mantel, and Colum McCann are just a few who have written spectacular ones. But Jay Parini authored his first biographical novel in 1990, years before these other writers. In fact, if we want to understand the rise and legitimization of the biographical novel, one needs to talk about Parini, who has authored important biographical novels about Leo Tolstoy, Walter Benjamin, and Herman Melville. I collected and edited Parini's interviews so that we could get some insight into his motivation for writing such works. Here is my introduction to the book, which should give you some insight into Parini's career as well as his contribution to the rise of the biographical novel. Those interested in biographical fiction should see my book Truthful Fictions, which contains my interviews with prominent American biographical novelists, including Parini.
Papers by Michael Lackey
Studies in the Novel, 2021
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after a real person, and while it is clearly ... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after a real person, and while it is clearly fiction, many scholars have treated the literary form as if it were biography. The Moroccan writer, Hassan Najmi, has authored a splendid biographical novel about Gertrude Stein, which clarifies why the literary form is primarily fiction and should not be treated as a form of biography or history.
African American Review, 2023
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonists after actual historical figures; it has beco... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonists after actual historical
figures; it has become a dominant literary form over the last thirty-five
years, resulting in spectacular works from global luminaries as varied as
Gabriel García Márquez, J. M. Coetzee, Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol
Oates, Mario Vargas Llosa, Peter Carey, Olga Tokarczuk, and Hilary Mantel, just to mention a notable few. Studies about biofiction have surged over the last ten years, but what scholars have not yet noted is the African American contribution to the evolution, rise, and legitimization of biofiction. This special issue of African American Review is devoted to African American biofiction, but it is important to clarify what is meant here. Biofictions that are written by African Americans but also about African Americans would qualify as African American biofiction, so, even though Colum McCann is a prominent Irish American writer, his novel TransAtlantic would qualify as an African American biofiction because Frederick Douglass is one of the protagonists.
Monatshefte: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/19/article/923133, 2024
Frederick the Great is one of the most important biographical novels of the twentieth century, wh... more Frederick the Great is one of the most important biographical novels of the twentieth century, which is strange, since it does not technically exist. In 1905, Mann started work on a biographical novel about the Prussian monarch, and though he never completed it, his character Gustav Aschenbach from "Death in Venice" did. Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and while there were a few important biographical novels in the nineteenth century, the literary form had its first major surge in the 1920s and 1930s, with publications mainly from many prominent German writers. Mann, I contend, is of crucial importance in biofiction studies because through his writings about Frederick he provides us with a compelling framework for understanding how authors fictionalize a life in order to support the formation of a particular type of polity. (ML) I cannot include the whole article for one year, so I have only included the introduction here. Here is the link to the essay: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/19/article/923133
Reading the Contemporary Author Narrative, Authority, Fictionality, 2023
This chapter explores biofiction as a response to Barthes’s Death of the Author theory by focusin... more This chapter explores biofiction as a response to Barthes’s Death of the Author theory by focusing on a set of biofictions that recast authors from the past as characters. We argue that, in reaction to postmodernism’s ontological destabilization and pervasive irony, biofictions seek a re-grounding in the values that past writers are still able to reveal to us today. We open our illustration of this point with an interpretation of two of Woody Allen’s films, which expose the hollowness of disregarding an
author’s own take on their works and emphasize the continued relevance of lessons learned from great modernists. Moving on to our literary examples, we use testimonies by authors as well as textual examples from Maggie Gee and Colm Tóibín to highlight biofiction’s polemic take on the Death of the Author and develop a theory of “double anchoring”, meaning that writer-inspired biofictions have a two-tiered approach to the literary tradition, integrating both factual details about the authors they portray and intertextual elements from these authors’ works. Our main case studies, analyzed in the subsequent sections, can be divided into biofictions that work inside the postmodern paradigm, revealing its limits and challenging it from within, such as Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot (1984) and J. M. Coetzee’s Foe (1986), and biofictions that break away from the perpetual instability of truth models, proposing new ways of constructing authors by not just acknowledging the inaccessibility of the past in an ever-repeated deconstructive gesture, but by also proposing alternative views of the past which can offer more than factual narratives do, as we show with the examples of Tóibín’s The Master (2004) and Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang (2000). We conclude that, while many authors of biofiction are aware of contemporary theory’s erasure of the author, they not only reject the idea that it is a total erasure but have also resurrected a version of the writer that is an amalgamation of fact and fiction.
a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, 2023
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual person, and as a literary for... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual person, and as a literary form, it has come to prominence over the last 35 years. The Germans played a crucial role in the origins and evolution of the genre, and to indicate the importance of German biofiction, the journal, a/b: Auto/ Biography Studies, has published a special issue devoted to the study of the literary form. The introduction is free of charge, and it is titled "German Biofiction from Nietzsche to the Present." If you would like to see it, here is a link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08989575.2023.2190221?src=
The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 2006
What would Nietzsche look like in a novel? Scholars generally agree that Lawrence's novel Women ... more What would Nietzsche look like in a novel? Scholars generally agree that Lawrence's novel Women in Love is dominated by Nietzschean ideas, and most agree that the character of Birkin is based on Nietzsche and Lawrence. Most important in this essay is Nietzsche's view of the will to power. For most scholars, to be Nietzschean, a person must internalize Nietzsche's will to power philosophy and then interpret and engage the world through that philosophy--this is, as I show, Heidegger's approach to Nietzsche. I argue that this is incorrect, because Nietzsche states explicitly that the will to power is not an ontological reality but rather his own invention. According to my approach, to be Nietzschean, a person must reject Nietzsche and his will to power and construct one's own system of living. This is what the character of Birkin does with Nietzsche and his will to power, which he mentions directly. This paradox at the core of Nietzsche's writing exposes those authoritarian interpretations of Nietzsche as incoherent nonsense. Lawrence was a great reader of Nietzsche.
LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, 2011
Prominent writers have faulted Styron for making the protagonist of his novel Sophie's Choice a C... more Prominent writers have faulted Styron for making the protagonist of his novel Sophie's Choice a Christian. Their argument goes like this: the Nazis targeted Jews. Therefore, Styron implicitly de-Judifies the Holocaust by making a Christian the primary victim in the novel. I argue that this argument only makes sense if we see Sophie exclusively as a victim. However, if we understand that Sophie is not a Christian victim but a Christian anti-Semite (perpetrator), and that it was her version of Christian anti-Semitism that in part made Hitler and the Nazis possible, then the critiques of Styron's novel would make no sense. The idea in this essay is more fully developed in the final chapter of my book The Modernist God State. That chapter is titled: "William Styron's Sophie's Choice: Locating the Christian Theology of the Nazis' Genocidal Anti-Semitism."
Bloomsbury Academic, 2021
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and it has... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and it has become a dominant literary form over the last 35 years. What has not yet been scholarly acknowledged or documented is that the Irish played a crucial role in the origins, evolution, rise, and now dominance of biofiction.
Michael Lackey first examines the groundbreaking biofictions that Oscar Wilde and George Moore authored in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as the best biographical novels about Wilde (by Peter Ackroyd and Colm Tóibín). He then focuses on contemporary authors of biofiction (Sabina Murray, Graham Shelby, Anne Enright, and Mario Vargas Llosa, who Lackey has interviewed for this work) who use the lives of prominent Irish figures (Roger Casement and Eliza Lynch) to explore the challenges of seizing and securing a life-promoting form of agency within a colonial and patriarchal context.
In conclusion, Lackey briefly analyzes biographical novels by Peter Carey and Mary Morrissy to illustrate why agency is of central importance for the Irish, and why that focus mandated the rise of the biographical novel, a literary form that mirrors the constructed Irish interior.
Biofiction: An Introduction, 2021
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and this i... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and this is the introduction from my book, Biofiction: An Introduction. It is written primarily for undergraduate and graduate students.
Bloomsbury Academic, 2021
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and the st... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and the study of biofiction has surged over the last ten years, so much so that Bloomsbury Academic has just launched a new series devoted exclusively to the study of the literary form. Are you are a scholar? Do you have a pathbreaking idea about biofiction? If so, there is now a press that will advance and promote your work. Feel free to contact me about potential projects.
Conversations with Biographical Novelists: Truthful Fictions across the Globe, 2018
Olga Tokarczuk, Rosa Montero, Laurent Binet, Anchee Min, Colm Toibin, Colum McCann, Stephanus Mul... more Olga Tokarczuk, Rosa Montero, Laurent Binet, Anchee Min, Colm Toibin, Colum McCann, Stephanus Muller, Emma Donoghue, David Ebershoff, Chika Unigwe, and Hannah Kent are just some of the global luminaries whose interviews are contained in this new book of conversations with contemporary biographical novelists, which Bloomsbury released on October 18th. Here is the introduction to the book, which should give you a clear sense of the interviews.
London and New York: Continuum, 2012
We know that Hitler and the Nazis consistently called themselves Christian--they state this direc... more We know that Hitler and the Nazis consistently called themselves Christian--they state this directly in their Party Program, and Hitler makes this clear in many of his speeches. But what version of Christianity did they adopt? And how did that version enable them to justify their atrocities against the Jews? In this book, I use literature to examine various versions of Christianity that were operational in Nazi Germany. Some versions were tolerant and humane, while others, such as the one the Nazis adopted, were intolerant and inhumane. My ultimate claim is this: it is impossible to understand why the Holocaust happened without taking into account the Nazis' version of Christianity. The main writers that I discuss include Martin Luther, Immanuel Kant, Mikhail Bakunin, Joseph Conrad, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Adolf Hitler, Dietrich Eckart, Joseph Goebbels, Alfred Rosenberg, King Leopold II, Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, E.M. Forster, Friedrich Nietzsche, William Styron, David Mamet, Alice Walker, Louise Erdrich, William Faulkner, Milan Kundera, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison.
London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2016
In recent years, the biographical novel has supplanted the classical historical novel and become ... more In recent years, the biographical novel has supplanted the classical historical novel and become a dominant literary form. But why? And what exactly is the biographical novel? How does it picture history differently from the classical historical novel? How does it uniquely engage and critique the political? In this book, I answer these and many other questions. This is the first chapter from the book. In the other chapters, I examine biographical novels about figures such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Benjamin, Moses, Herod, Gabriel Prosser, Nat Turner, Sally Hemings, Alfred Rosenberg, and Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe.
London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2014
The biographical novel has become a dominant literary form in recent years. But why? I intervie... more The biographical novel has become a dominant literary form in recent years. But why? I interviewed prominent biographical novelists such as Michael Cunningham, Joyce Carol Oates, Julia Alvarez, Russell Banks, and Anita Diamant to get some answers. I have attached my introduction to the book, and the book contains my interviews with the authors. I am currently working on a new book of interviews with biographical novelists from across the globe. Bloomsbury will publish that book in late 2018, and it includes interviews with Colm Toibin, Emma Donoghue, Colum McCann, David Ebershoff, Chika Unigwe, Sabina Murray, Rosa Montero, David Lodge, Susan Sellers, Laurent Binet, and many others.
Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007
In this book, I argue that black atheists reject belief in God more for political than epistemolo... more In this book, I argue that black atheists reject belief in God more for political than epistemological reasons. The God-concept was frequently used as an ideological instrument for subjugating and violating blacks. Therefore, to make a more just polity possible, atheism is a political must. Included here is the introduction to the book.
Dissertation: University of Kentucky, 1999
God died in 1882, somewhere in Germany. But if God was the basis and foundation for our understan... more God died in 1882, somewhere in Germany. But if God was the basis and foundation for our understanding of love, what happens to love after the death of God? In my dissertation, I answer this question through my analysis of the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche and Virginia Woolf. Parts of the dissertation were published in essays for Philosophy and Literature, Journal of the History of Ideas, Studies in Short Fiction, Woolf Studies Annual, and Journal of Modern Literature.
New York and London: Bloomsbury, 2017
Bloomsbury has published the first anthology of biofiction. What is the nature of biofiction? H... more Bloomsbury has published the first anthology of biofiction. What is the nature of biofiction? How is it different from biography and historical fiction? How is it similar? What kind of "truth" does biofiction picture? How does it access and represent history and give us new ways of thinking about history? Hoe does it engage the political? This reader, which consists of a wide range of writings, answers these and many other questions.
Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2013
What is the best way to bring about racial healing and racial justice in the United States? This... more What is the best way to bring about racial healing and racial justice in the United States? This was a central question in the 1960s. Black separatists thought that the best approach was to establish separate but truly equal institutions. But black integrationists held that separatism leads necessarily to racial discrimination and has horribly negative consequences for blacks. While doing research about the black intellectual J. Saunders Redding, I discovered a manuscript, which is a transcription of a 1969 meeting with famous black integrationist writers, including Redding, Ralph Ellison, John Hope Franklin, Adelaide Cromwell Hill, St. Clair Drake, Phyllis Wallace, Kenneth Clark, and many other luminaries. The group discussed various forms of racism in the United States, brainstormed strategies for overcoming systemic racism, and devised a plan to counter the black separatist approach to racial justice. Strangely, this conversation is painfully relevant today, as we are still struggling in this country to come to terms with our racial history and situation. Here is my introduction, which provides a history of the group and the manuscript.
London and New York: Routledge, 2017
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure. There are... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure. There are in this book process pieces from prominent biographical novelists about the nature of their work as well as academic essays that define the nature of this aesthetic form. This volume brings some clarity and depth to our understanding of bioficiton. Here is a link to the book: https://www.routledge.com/Biofictional-Histories-Mutations-and-Forms/Lackey/p/book/9781138220393
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014
The biographical novel has become a dominant literary form in recent years. J.M. Coetzee, Michae... more The biographical novel has become a dominant literary form in recent years. J.M. Coetzee, Michael Cunningham, Russell Banks, Joyce Carol Oates, Hilary Mantel, and Colum McCann are just a few who have written spectacular ones. But Jay Parini authored his first biographical novel in 1990, years before these other writers. In fact, if we want to understand the rise and legitimization of the biographical novel, one needs to talk about Parini, who has authored important biographical novels about Leo Tolstoy, Walter Benjamin, and Herman Melville. I collected and edited Parini's interviews so that we could get some insight into his motivation for writing such works. Here is my introduction to the book, which should give you some insight into Parini's career as well as his contribution to the rise of the biographical novel. Those interested in biographical fiction should see my book Truthful Fictions, which contains my interviews with prominent American biographical novelists, including Parini.
Studies in the Novel, 2021
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after a real person, and while it is clearly ... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after a real person, and while it is clearly fiction, many scholars have treated the literary form as if it were biography. The Moroccan writer, Hassan Najmi, has authored a splendid biographical novel about Gertrude Stein, which clarifies why the literary form is primarily fiction and should not be treated as a form of biography or history.
African American Review, 2023
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonists after actual historical figures; it has beco... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonists after actual historical
figures; it has become a dominant literary form over the last thirty-five
years, resulting in spectacular works from global luminaries as varied as
Gabriel García Márquez, J. M. Coetzee, Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol
Oates, Mario Vargas Llosa, Peter Carey, Olga Tokarczuk, and Hilary Mantel, just to mention a notable few. Studies about biofiction have surged over the last ten years, but what scholars have not yet noted is the African American contribution to the evolution, rise, and legitimization of biofiction. This special issue of African American Review is devoted to African American biofiction, but it is important to clarify what is meant here. Biofictions that are written by African Americans but also about African Americans would qualify as African American biofiction, so, even though Colum McCann is a prominent Irish American writer, his novel TransAtlantic would qualify as an African American biofiction because Frederick Douglass is one of the protagonists.
Monatshefte: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/19/article/923133, 2024
Frederick the Great is one of the most important biographical novels of the twentieth century, wh... more Frederick the Great is one of the most important biographical novels of the twentieth century, which is strange, since it does not technically exist. In 1905, Mann started work on a biographical novel about the Prussian monarch, and though he never completed it, his character Gustav Aschenbach from "Death in Venice" did. Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and while there were a few important biographical novels in the nineteenth century, the literary form had its first major surge in the 1920s and 1930s, with publications mainly from many prominent German writers. Mann, I contend, is of crucial importance in biofiction studies because through his writings about Frederick he provides us with a compelling framework for understanding how authors fictionalize a life in order to support the formation of a particular type of polity. (ML) I cannot include the whole article for one year, so I have only included the introduction here. Here is the link to the essay: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/19/article/923133
Reading the Contemporary Author Narrative, Authority, Fictionality, 2023
This chapter explores biofiction as a response to Barthes’s Death of the Author theory by focusin... more This chapter explores biofiction as a response to Barthes’s Death of the Author theory by focusing on a set of biofictions that recast authors from the past as characters. We argue that, in reaction to postmodernism’s ontological destabilization and pervasive irony, biofictions seek a re-grounding in the values that past writers are still able to reveal to us today. We open our illustration of this point with an interpretation of two of Woody Allen’s films, which expose the hollowness of disregarding an
author’s own take on their works and emphasize the continued relevance of lessons learned from great modernists. Moving on to our literary examples, we use testimonies by authors as well as textual examples from Maggie Gee and Colm Tóibín to highlight biofiction’s polemic take on the Death of the Author and develop a theory of “double anchoring”, meaning that writer-inspired biofictions have a two-tiered approach to the literary tradition, integrating both factual details about the authors they portray and intertextual elements from these authors’ works. Our main case studies, analyzed in the subsequent sections, can be divided into biofictions that work inside the postmodern paradigm, revealing its limits and challenging it from within, such as Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot (1984) and J. M. Coetzee’s Foe (1986), and biofictions that break away from the perpetual instability of truth models, proposing new ways of constructing authors by not just acknowledging the inaccessibility of the past in an ever-repeated deconstructive gesture, but by also proposing alternative views of the past which can offer more than factual narratives do, as we show with the examples of Tóibín’s The Master (2004) and Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang (2000). We conclude that, while many authors of biofiction are aware of contemporary theory’s erasure of the author, they not only reject the idea that it is a total erasure but have also resurrected a version of the writer that is an amalgamation of fact and fiction.
a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, 2023
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual person, and as a literary for... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual person, and as a literary form, it has come to prominence over the last 35 years. The Germans played a crucial role in the origins and evolution of the genre, and to indicate the importance of German biofiction, the journal, a/b: Auto/ Biography Studies, has published a special issue devoted to the study of the literary form. The introduction is free of charge, and it is titled "German Biofiction from Nietzsche to the Present." If you would like to see it, here is a link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08989575.2023.2190221?src=
The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 2006
What would Nietzsche look like in a novel? Scholars generally agree that Lawrence's novel Women ... more What would Nietzsche look like in a novel? Scholars generally agree that Lawrence's novel Women in Love is dominated by Nietzschean ideas, and most agree that the character of Birkin is based on Nietzsche and Lawrence. Most important in this essay is Nietzsche's view of the will to power. For most scholars, to be Nietzschean, a person must internalize Nietzsche's will to power philosophy and then interpret and engage the world through that philosophy--this is, as I show, Heidegger's approach to Nietzsche. I argue that this is incorrect, because Nietzsche states explicitly that the will to power is not an ontological reality but rather his own invention. According to my approach, to be Nietzschean, a person must reject Nietzsche and his will to power and construct one's own system of living. This is what the character of Birkin does with Nietzsche and his will to power, which he mentions directly. This paradox at the core of Nietzsche's writing exposes those authoritarian interpretations of Nietzsche as incoherent nonsense. Lawrence was a great reader of Nietzsche.
LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, 2011
Prominent writers have faulted Styron for making the protagonist of his novel Sophie's Choice a C... more Prominent writers have faulted Styron for making the protagonist of his novel Sophie's Choice a Christian. Their argument goes like this: the Nazis targeted Jews. Therefore, Styron implicitly de-Judifies the Holocaust by making a Christian the primary victim in the novel. I argue that this argument only makes sense if we see Sophie exclusively as a victim. However, if we understand that Sophie is not a Christian victim but a Christian anti-Semite (perpetrator), and that it was her version of Christian anti-Semitism that in part made Hitler and the Nazis possible, then the critiques of Styron's novel would make no sense. The idea in this essay is more fully developed in the final chapter of my book The Modernist God State. That chapter is titled: "William Styron's Sophie's Choice: Locating the Christian Theology of the Nazis' Genocidal Anti-Semitism."
Journal of Modern Literature, 2016
Scholars have suggested that William Styron’s Nathan in Sophie’s Choice is insane or depraved — a... more Scholars have suggested that William Styron’s Nathan in Sophie’s Choice is insane or depraved — a character whose motivations lack rationality at best and are unambiguously evil at worst. Elie Wiesel, the author of the famous Holocaust memoir Night, has been very critical of Styron’s novel. Ironically, by using the Yiddish version of Wiesel’s memoir Night, it is possible to demonstrate that Nathan’s behavior is more “logical” than scholars have previously understood. This approach offers us a new way of reading and interpreting Styron’s novel by clarifying how Nathan’s character functions within a well-established tradition of sociopolitical outrage about racial oppression, which is best exemplified in James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, a text that Styron strategically references in Sophie’s Choice.
MFS: Modern Fiction Studies, 2014
Sophie becomes an atheist. But when? Scholars have suggested that she loses her faith after she... more Sophie becomes an atheist. But when? Scholars have suggested that she loses her faith after she is forced to send one of her children to her death. But there is evidence that Sophie continues to believe even after she makes that decision. In this essay, I show how Sophie loses her faith when she discovers that Hitler and the Nazis committed their atrocities against Jews on the basis of their version of Christianity. She makes this discovery when talking to a young Nazi child. To illuminate this scene, I analyze it in relation to Nazi books made especially for children. My ultimate argument is this: Sophie becomes an atheist because she realizes that a version of Christianity made Hitler and the Nazis possible. For a more detailed analysis of my approach to Styron's novel, see my book The modernist God State.
Victorian Poetry, 2001
Most educated Christians modify belief in relation to advances and discoveries in science. Given... more Most educated Christians modify belief in relation to advances and discoveries in science. Given discoveries about the brutality of nature, which Darwin discusses in his letters with Asa Grey, it was difficult to believe that God was omnipresent. In this paper about “God’s Grandeur,” I argue that Hopkins was aware of arguments about the brutality of nature, which forced him to reconsider the degree to which God was present in nature. Hopkins continues to believe, but he now holds that God only appears in momentary flashes. Other than those moments, God is not seen or experienced.
College Literature, 2005
In writing Heart of Darkness, Conrad made a crucial discovery. Morality does not prevent genocid... more In writing Heart of Darkness, Conrad made a crucial discovery. Morality does not prevent genocide. Quite the contrary, genocide occurs because of moral discourses. It was for this reason that Conrad rejected morality. To put the matter simply, Conrad rejects morality because he is committed to social justice. For a more detailed analysis of Conrad's view of the political psychology that makes genocide possible, see chapter five of my book The Modernist God State, which is titled: "Joseph Conrad and Michael Bakunin on the Redemptive Logic of Western Genocide."
Amerikastudien/American Studies, 2002
Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, and Joseph Conrad all came to the same conclusion at roughly the... more Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, and Joseph Conrad all came to the same conclusion at roughly the same time: that a discourse of morality, rather than promoting the social good, actually sets the stage for human rights abuses. In this essay, I show how Twain replaces morality with a discourse of intimacy in his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Eire-Ireland, 2018
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and it has... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and it has become a dominant literary form since the 1990s. Why? I offer some explanations in this essay, and I clarify how and why the Irish in particular played a crucial role in the origins, evolution, and rise of biofiction.
Biofiction and Writers' Afterlives, 2020
How can we explain the origins of biofiction? Scholars suggest that the history-of-science contri... more How can we explain the origins of biofiction? Scholars suggest that the history-of-science contributed significantly to the rise of the historical novel, which exposes the way historical forces shape and determine the human. Many scholars treat the biographical novel as a form of the historical novel. But by looking at some authors of biofiction who opposed the determinism and even fatalism implicit in the history-as-science approach and its concomitant aesthetic form, the historical novel, I show how biofiction came into being as an aesthetic reaction against the historical novel. Instead of picturing the historical forces that shape and determine the human, the biographical novel gives readers a model of a figure that defies or evades environmental conditioning or cultural determinism by shaping and determining the world around him or her. In this essay, I focus on Oscar Wilde, Friedrich Nietzsche, Henry James, and Colm Toibin.
Authorizing Early Modern European Women: From Biography to Biofiction, 2021
This is my Afterword to the collection of essays Authorizing Early Modern European Women: From Bi... more This is my Afterword to the collection of essays Authorizing Early Modern European Women: From Biography to Biofiction. This volume contains many first-rate essays about biofiction, and it adds considerably to both scholarship about biofiction as well as early modern women. This book should be in every university library, and if you are a scholar of either biofiction or early modern women, I strongly recommend that you have a copy in your personal library.
Virginia Woolf's Afterlives: The Author as Character in Contemporary Fiction and Drama, 2021
In 2012, Monica Latham published a groundbreaking essay about Virginia Woolf biofictions, which h... more In 2012, Monica Latham published a groundbreaking essay about Virginia Woolf biofictions, which had a significant impact on biofiction studies. Since then, Latham has become one of the most prominent scholars of biofiction in the world, and she is currently the leading scholar of biofictions about Virginia Woolf. This is my Foreword to her wonderful book Virginia Woolf's Afterlives: The Author as Character in Contemporary Fiction and Drama. I explain why Latham's book is such a masterful achievement and a remarkable contribution to both biofiction and Virginia Woolf scholarship. This book should be in every university library and in the personal libraries of scholars of Virginia Woolf and biofiction.
MLQ: Modern Language Quarterly, 2021
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after a historical figure, and since the 1990... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after a historical figure, and since the 1990s it has become one of the most dominant literary forms. This is surprising because many prominent scholars, critics, and writers have criticized and even condemned it. This essay hypothesizes that postmodern theories of truth and concomitant transformations in reader sensibilities partly account for the legitimization and now dominance of biofiction. The essay analyzes a 1968 literary debate among Ralph Ellison, William Styron, and Robert Penn Warren, which on the surface concerned the uses of history in literature. But because it happened just one year after the publication of Styron’s controversial novel about Nat Turner, the debate ended up focusing primarily on the nature and value of biofiction. By analyzing the discussion in relation to contemporary formulations about and theorizations of biofiction, this essay illustrates why the forum represents a turning point in literary history, resulting in the decline of a traditional type of literary symbol and the rise of a more anchored and empirical symbol—that is, the type of symbol found in biofiction.
Philosophy and Literature, 2018
What enabled so many everyday Germans to kill Jews with emotional and psychological impunity? Han... more What enabled so many everyday Germans to kill Jews with emotional and psychological impunity? Hannah Arendt suggests that a failure in thinking can account for this behavior. But I argue that Bernhard Schlink exposes Arendt's theory as limited and flawed in his novel The Reader. To prevent everyday people from committing atrocities, what is needed is an ability to read-to others, an ability to access the interior of the other. This theory of reading-to sheds new and very different light on Schlink's novel.
a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, 2021
The journal a/b: Auto/Biography Studies just published this article, and it is free to access. He... more The journal a/b: Auto/Biography Studies just published this article, and it is free to access. Here is the link to the essay. Below is the first paragraph from the essay.
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/IWIKKX2A6EFPE7WJI5CS/full?target=10.1080/08989575.2020.1786980
Friedrich Nietzsche's famous claim that truth is a conceptual illusion that language-users have forgotten to see as provisional and evolving was one of the main ideas informing the major postmodern writings of Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, Paul de Man, Michel Foucault, Sarah Kofman, and others from the 1960s and 1970s. The linguistic turn--with its emphasis on the necessary deceptions implicit in language, the relentless exposure of binary oppositions as reductive, the searing critique of naïve realism, and the perpetual uncovering of centralized but unquestioned power layered into discourse--had a staggering impact on the study of genres. If Georg Lukacs could so confidently (even dogmatically) define the historical novel in 1937, this was because he felt that there was a certain kind of epistemic justification for making objective distinctions between literary forms. Nietzsche's work posed a major challenge to the foundation of Lukacs' scholarly project, which, in part, explains why the Hungarian Marxist waged intellectual war against the Ubermensch philologist until the end of his career. By the mid to late 1960s, with the academic legitimization of postmodernism and the rise of deconstruction, Lukacs and his work were effectively sidelined, even if some prominent scholars continued to take his side and deploy his methods. The academic result was that the scholarly practices of exposing genre distinctions as arbitrary, emphasizing overlap between literary forms, and foregrounding the porous borders of linguistic constructions came to dominate, thus rendering neat and tidy definitions of discrete genres as naïve and untenable. So, deconstructing generic distinctions became the craze, and it has dominated the academic study of literature for the last forty to fifty years. But there is growing evidence that scholars are starting to tire of the postmodern models of perpetual blurring. Moreover, there is a yearning for more stable but informed descriptions of literary forms. This is the core idea underwriting the essays in this issue.
Contemporary Literature, 2021
In the June 1999 issue of Harper’s Magazine, Jonathan Dee published a scathing article about biof... more In the June 1999 issue of Harper’s Magazine, Jonathan Dee published a scathing article about biofiction, literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure. He specifically faults Joanna Scott, claiming that she is in part responsible for the then-contemporary surge in biofiction. There has been a deep-level prejudice against biofiction since the 1930s, and Dee’s article is useful because he has internalized many of the misconceptions about the literary form. Dee’s decision to target Scott in particular is instructive, as her career spans the massive surge in biofiction from the late 1980s until the present and she, without ever mentioning him, effectively refutes all of Dee’s faulty assumptions in her essays and interviews about the literary form. By looking closely at Scott’s career and reading her work alongside many biographical novelists, I offer a more grounded way of thinking about the way the literary form functions and signifies.
Ireland, the Irish, and the Rise of Biofiction, 2021
Mario Vargas Llosa has published many first-rate biographical novels. In this interview, I focus ... more Mario Vargas Llosa has published many first-rate biographical novels. In this interview, I focus mainly on his novel The Dream of the Celt, which is about the famous humanitarian, Roger Casement, an Irishman who went to the Congo and the Amazon to expose crimes against humanity and to combat colonialism. This work led him to understand the sense in which and the degree to which Ireland was a colonized country. In his novel, Vargas Llosa charts the transformations inside Casement from being sympathetic to colonialism to being a critic of it, from considering himself British to considering himself an anti-British Irishman. The aesthetic-political act of decolonization from both a psychological and linguistic perspective is of crucial importance.
Historical Fictions Research Network, 2022
This is an interview with Prashant Maurya about the differences between historical fiction and bi... more This is an interview with Prashant Maurya about the differences between historical fiction and biographical fiction. My answers during the interview were much longer and more rambling, but this contains some brief responses to the questions.
Conversations with Biographical Novelists: Truthful Fictions across the Globe, 2019
Roger Casement was an extraordinary man who exposed political atrocities in the Congo and the Ama... more Roger Casement was an extraordinary man who exposed political atrocities in the Congo and the Amazon, and he tried to bring about Irish independence from England. But because he was gay, his reputation was destroyed and he was eventually hanged for treason. Sabina Murray has authored a spectacular biographical novel about Casement, and in this interview, she explains why she wrote the novel and why Casement is such an important figure for us today.
Conversations with Biographical Novelists, 2019
In 1931, the Danish artist Einar Wegener had a sex confirmation surgery, after which she came to ... more In 1931, the Danish artist Einar Wegener had a sex confirmation surgery, after which she came to be known as Lili Elbe. David Ebershoff authored a novel about Elbe's life in 2000, and in this interview, he clarifies how Elbe functions as a literary symbol of the artist that shapes one's own life into being.
Conversations with Biographical Novelists, 2019
Chika Unigwe is a Nigeria-Belgian author who published Zwarte Messias, a biographical novel about... more Chika Unigwe is a Nigeria-Belgian author who published Zwarte Messias, a biographical novel about Olaudah Equiano, and she is currently working on a biographical novel about Equiano's daughter, Joanna. In this interview, Unigwe provides an excellent way to understand the differences between the historical novel and the biographical novel.
Conversations with Biographical Novelists, 2019
Anchee Min has written many biographical novels, including one about Jiang Ching, the wife of Mao... more Anchee Min has written many biographical novels, including one about Jiang Ching, the wife of Mao Tse Tung. While Becoming Madame Mao is set in and about China, Min claims that the story about Jiang Ching can be used to illuminate cultural ailments in numerous places and times. She even suggests that Jiang Ching's story could be used to shed light on contemporary America. In this interview, Min discusses how biographical novels function to diagnose cultural ailments and to offer new and healthier ways of individual thinking and cultural being.
Eire-Ireland, 2018
Emma Donoghue has published a number of spectacular biographical novels. In this interview, she c... more Emma Donoghue has published a number of spectacular biographical novels. In this interview, she clarifies some of her objectives when writing a novel about an actual historical person. She also clarifies some of the distinctions between the historical and the biographical novel.
Eire-Ireland, 2018
Colum McCann has authored two spectacular biographical novels, Dancer and TransAtlantic. In this ... more Colum McCann has authored two spectacular biographical novels, Dancer and TransAtlantic. In this interview, McCann explains what he tries to accomplish in and through his biographical novels.
Biographical novelists feature an actual historical figure, but the authors take many liberties w... more Biographical novelists feature an actual historical figure, but the authors take many liberties with both their protagonist and history. In this forum, I asked three prominent biographical novelists to explain how they use their biographical subject to engage history and to critique the political. Authors were Bruce Duffy (Ludwig Wittgenstein and Arthur Rimbaud), Lance Olsen (Friedrich Nietzsche), and Jay Parini (Walter Benjamin, Leo Tolstoy, and Herman Melville).
Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists, 2014
Rainer Maria Rilke is certainly one of the most famous and important authors of the twentieth cen... more Rainer Maria Rilke is certainly one of the most famous and important authors of the twentieth century. As such, making him the protagonist of a biographical novel would be no easy task. And yet, Mark Allen Cunningham did exactly that in his novel Lost Son, which sheds considerable light on Rilke and the context in which his work came to fruition. This is my interview with Cunningham about his Rilke biographical novel.
Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists, 2014
Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most provocative and insightful thinkers of all time, which ex... more Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most provocative and insightful thinkers of all time, which explains why he is the subject of so many biographical novels. In my estimation, Lance Olsen's Nietzsche's Kisses is the best biographical novel about Nietzsche out there. In his novel, Olsen brilliantly debunks the view that Nietzsche contributed to the making of Hitler and the Nazis. What actually happened is that Nietzsche's sister, who altered and forged some of "Nietzsche's" writings, tried to make her brother's work consistent with her anti-Semitic worldview. In this interview, Olsen and I discuss Nietzsche's life and work in relation to Olsen's novel.
Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists, 2014
Joanna Scott author a spectacular biographical novel about the Austrian artist Egon Schiele. Thi... more Joanna Scott author a spectacular biographical novel about the Austrian artist Egon Schiele. This is my interview with her about both her novel and the nature of biofiction more generally.
Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists, 2014
Madison Smartt Bell published a brilliant biographical novel about Toussaint. In this interview,... more Madison Smartt Bell published a brilliant biographical novel about Toussaint. In this interview, I ask him some questions about his strategies and objectives as a biographical novelist. Very interesting material here.
Why did biofiction come into being? How is the biofictional literary symbol different from the tr... more Why did biofiction come into being? How is the biofictional literary symbol different from the traditional literary symbol? What role did postmodernism play in the formation of biofiction? What types of biographical novels are there? I answer many of these questions in this interview with Rhys Tranter, which focuses on my two most recent books The American Biographical Novel and Biographical Fiction: A Reader. At the conclusion of the interview, I discuss the two book projects that I am currently working on, which are about Irish Biofiction and a book of interviews with biographical novelists across the globe. Here is a link to the interview: https://rhystranter.com/2016/12/20/michael-lackey-american-biographical-novel-interview/
Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists, 2014
Jay Parini has published biographical novels about Leo Tolstoy, Walter Benjamin, and Herman Melv... more Jay Parini has published biographical novels about Leo Tolstoy, Walter Benjamin, and Herman Melville. This is my interview with Parini. He clarifies how biographical fiction differs from historical fiction, explains why biofiction came into being. This is one of my favorite interviews with a biographical novelist.
Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists, 2014
Does truth differ from one discipline to the next? Russell Banks certainly thinks so. For insta... more Does truth differ from one discipline to the next? Russell Banks certainly thinks so. For instance, historians give readers a different kind of truth from fiction writers. In this interview, Banks suggests that we need to reflect on the implied truth contracts that authors establish with their readers. He specifically examines the kind of truth that readers get in biographical novels like Cloudsplitter, which is about John Brown's son Owen. This is an interview taken from my book Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists.
Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists, 2014
There has been much criticism of Michael Cunningham's The Hours, but much of this criticism is un... more There has been much criticism of Michael Cunningham's The Hours, but much of this criticism is unjustified, because most critics do not understand the conventions of the biographical novel. In this interview, I ask Cunningham to define the biographical novel and to clarify how The Hours functions and signifies as a biographical novel. His answers clarify one of the main reasons why the biographical novel has become a dominant aesthetic form in recent years.
Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists, 2014
What is literary "truth"? How does it differ from other forms of "truth"? How can a creative wr... more What is literary "truth"? How does it differ from other forms of "truth"? How can a creative writer make use of multiple figuratiions of truth in order to picture the world in its complexity and depth? In this interview, Julia Alvarez answers these and many other questions about the nature of the biographical novel.
Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists, 2014
This is my interview with Joyce Carol Oates, which is contained in my book Truthful Fictions: Con... more This is my interview with Joyce Carol Oates, which is contained in my book Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists. Oates published a spectacular biographical novel about Marilyn Monroe, which is titled Blonde. In this interview, I wanted her to explain a shift in her work. Her novel Black Water is clearly based on Ted Kennedy, but she never refers to the character as Kennedy. Why did she decide to name the protagonist of Blonde after the actual historical figure? What is the value of changing the protagonist's name? What are the ethical problems of naming the protagonist after an actual historical figure? These were just a few of the questions I asked Oates to consider during the interview. In my estimation, Blonde is one of the top ten biographical novels.
Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists, 2014
Taken from my book Truthful Fictions, this is an interview with Edmund White, who has authored nu... more Taken from my book Truthful Fictions, this is an interview with Edmund White, who has authored numerous books about prominent gay figures. In this interview, I focus on White's novel Hotel de Dream, which dramatizes the last few months of the life of Stephen Crane. Crane actually started a novel about a young gay prostitute, but he ultimately destroyed it. In White's novel, Crane writes the story, and it gives readers access to and insight into the lives of gay men during the 1890s.
Paul Celan is one of the greatest poets of all time, and his volume Die Niemandrose is, in my est... more Paul Celan is one of the greatest poets of all time, and his volume Die Niemandrose is, in my estimation, his best work. This is a review of a book that uses Derridean deconstruction to analyze and interpret Celan's poems.
Nagele uses theory to get beyond theory. This is a book about reading and the abyss. One doesn'... more Nagele uses theory to get beyond theory. This is a book about reading and the abyss. One doesn't theorize one's intellectual way to the abyss. Rather, the Abgrund destabilizes theory. Recovering a pre-theory reading praxis could yield far more than any theory. Some strong and provocative readings of Hoelderlin, Baudelaire, Nietzsche, and Benjamin in this book.
This is a review of A.N. Wilson's book God's Funeral. There are some good things in this book, b... more This is a review of A.N. Wilson's book God's Funeral. There are some good things in this book, but ultimately, Wilson has a narrow and limited understanding of atheism. Wilson would have his reader believe that atheism leads necessarily to nihilistic despair. As I demonstrate, there are many atheists (Friedrich Nietzsche, Virginia Woolf, Nella Larsen, and Michel Foucault) who gladly welcome the death of God.
This is a fairly positive view of Beatrice Martina Guenther's The Poetics of Death: The Short Pro... more This is a fairly positive view of Beatrice Martina Guenther's The Poetics of Death: The Short Prose of Kleist and Balzac.
This is a review of Alfred Kazin's last book God and the American Writer. Kazin was brilliant. ... more This is a review of Alfred Kazin's last book God and the American Writer. Kazin was brilliant. I gave this book a very good review.
Uhlmann uses the work of the Enlightenment philosopher Spinoza to offer a model of thinking that ... more Uhlmann uses the work of the Enlightenment philosopher Spinoza to offer a model of thinking that illuminates the way modernist texts function. There are some slippages in Uhlmann's terminology, but this is nonetheless a solid book, especially for those working on theories about thinking and consciousness in literature.
There are many similarities between Joseph Conrad's most famous novel and Nietzsche's first book.... more There are many similarities between Joseph Conrad's most famous novel and Nietzsche's first book. Nic Panagopoulos examines the potential links between the two authors. There are some useful insights sprinkled throughout the study, but ultimately, I don't think that Pamagopoulous succeeds.
Carroll's book was published in 2001, and in some ways, it contributed to and participated in a m... more Carroll's book was published in 2001, and in some ways, it contributed to and participated in a massive revision of history regarding the Holocaust. For the longest time, scholars glibly assumed that Christianity played no role in the making of Hitler and the Nazis. But as scholars have debunked the traditional secularization hypothesis and examined the version of Christianity that Hitler and the Nazis adopted, there has been increasing interest in the degree to which Christianity made the Holocaust possible. James Carroll is a Christian, but he believes that Christianity played a significant role in the making of the Holocaust. I have a few minor objections to Carroll's book, but on the whole, this is a fine study, certainly worth reading.
This is a review of a book about E.M. Forster, which focuses on the pastoral and homosexuality in... more This is a review of a book about E.M. Forster, which focuses on the pastoral and homosexuality in Forster's works.
Theories of the sublime were in wide circulation when William Blake wrote his poetry. De Luca's ... more Theories of the sublime were in wide circulation when William Blake wrote his poetry. De Luca's study does a masterful job clarifying how we can use those theories to illuminate the extremely complicated poetry of William Blake.
To what degree do Jewish theology and Judaic forms of exegesis inform the work of twentieth-centu... more To what degree do Jewish theology and Judaic forms of exegesis inform the work of twentieth-century philosophy and literary theory? In this book, Susan Handelman intelligently answers this question.
This is a review of Nancy's book The Experience of Freedom, which examines how twentieth-century ... more This is a review of Nancy's book The Experience of Freedom, which examines how twentieth-century political powers have co-opted and manipulated concepts of freedom in service of tyrannical agendas. Nancy seeks to liberate freedom.
George M. Johnson does a fine analysis of the vital role the Society for Psychical Research playe... more George M. Johnson does a fine analysis of the vital role the Society for Psychical Research played in the making of modernist fiction. For those interested in psychology, theories of subjectivity, and conceptions of the unconscious, this is essential reading. Johnson's analysis of individual texts is not as strong as his history of the Society for Psychical Research or his work on psychology more generally. But the book is very useful nonetheless.
In the nineteenth century, there was a shift from taking the human as a given to seeing the human... more In the nineteenth century, there was a shift from taking the human as a given to seeing the human as a problem. Such is the major claim in this excellent study by Paul Sheehan. This idea led to a radical questioning of humanism, which prompted many prominent twentieth-century writers to develop anti-human, post-human, and inhuman philosophies. For those interested in intellectual history, this study is worth reading. Sheehan specifically discusses the works of Schopenhauer, Darwin, Freud, Nietzsche, D.H. Lawrence, Woolf, Conrad, and Beckett. One major limitation: Sheehan, like Heidegger, wrongly believes that Nietzsche considers the will an ontological fact of being. For Nietzsche, the will is just an invention, a provisional conceptual illusion that humans use to make sense of the interior world.
Midrash is a rabbinical form of exegesis. By narrating stories that fill in the gaps within a sa... more Midrash is a rabbinical form of exegesis. By narrating stories that fill in the gaps within a sacred text, midrash illuminates puzzling passages and answers troubling questions. In this fine study, Terry R. Wright examines the degree to which modernist writers deployed midrashic techniques in order to engage and illuminate the Old and New Testaments. Wright uses this approach to analyze the works of Mark Twain, Thomas Mann, Anita Diamant, John Steinbeck, Jeanette Winterson, and Jenny Diski. The model that Wright establishes is very useful, though it doesn’t always work with particular authors. But when it does work, it is fascinating.
Lawrence Jackson does a fine survey of African American writing from the 1930s through 1960. Par... more Lawrence Jackson does a fine survey of African American writing from the 1930s through 1960. Particularly insightful is his discussion of Richard Wright, whose work set the stage for a massive critique of white liberals. Wright would never have taken that critique as far as the Black Power intellectuals of the sixties did, but that's precisely why this book is so fascinating. It intelligently charts the evolution of ideas. Less convincing in this book are some of Jackson's claims about J. Saunders Redding. Despite this weakness, this is a solid book.
George J. Stack wrote a very insightful and useful book clarifying the role the entanglements of ... more George J. Stack wrote a very insightful and useful book clarifying the role the entanglements of science, anthropomorphism, and psychology played in the formation of Nietzsche's thinking. This is a solid book, definitely worth reading.
When scholars have used philosophy to discuss Virginia Woolf's work, they have mainly used the wo... more When scholars have used philosophy to discuss Virginia Woolf's work, they have mainly used the work of Continental philosophers. Ann Banfield uses the analytic philosophy of Bertrand Russell to illuminate Woolf's writings. I don't always agree with Banfield, but she has clearly written a brilliant book that is quite compelling. For those interested in Woolf and philosophical modernism, Banfield's book is a must read.
Modern British writers were enthralled by Russian writers. In fact, Roberta Rubenstein argues th... more Modern British writers were enthralled by Russian writers. In fact, Roberta Rubenstein argues that Russian writers played a crucial role in shaping British modernism. Rubenstein has written a very solid book.
How has literary theory affected and shaped the contemporary novel? And how would Jacques Derrid... more How has literary theory affected and shaped the contemporary novel? And how would Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, or Julia Kristeva look in a novel? Ryan does an excellent job examining novels that feature a theorist as a character or explicitly engage a particular theory.
IABA Warsaw, 2023
Empress Elisabeth and King Ludwig II struggled with mental illness, and they tried to understand ... more Empress Elisabeth and King Ludwig II struggled with mental illness, and they tried to understand and overcome their depression. Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after a real person, and I examine a novella (Barred Window by Klaus Mann) and a film (Corsage by Marie Kreutzer) to illustrate how they fictionalize the lives of Elisabeth and Ludwig in order to offer ways of combatting mental illness and to offer healthier ways of thinking and doing. The theory I develop is based on the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, who suggests that a moral conception of the human does considerable damage to mental health. According to Nietzsche, the human is primarily a being in search of power and control, and with a proper understanding of the primal condition of being human, it is possible to develop better and healthier psychological models.
31st Annual Virginia Woolf Conference, 2022
When scholars discuss the ethics of biofiction, they tend to focus primarily on the process of wr... more When scholars discuss the ethics of biofiction, they tend to focus primarily on the process of writing rather than reading. But our understanding of the ethics will differ significantly on the basis of the way readers approach biofictional texts. In this brief paper, I argue that more attention needs to be paid to educating readers in the art of reading biofiction.
MLA Convention 2022 (Washington, D.C.), 2022
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and it has... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and it has become a dominant literary form since the 1990s, resulting in spectacular publications from luminaries as varied as J.M. Coetzee, Margaret Atwood, Penelope Fitzgerald, Peter Carey, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Hilary Mantel. And yet, there is still considerable confusion about the aesthetic form. Take, for instance, the consistent claim that the biographical novel is a subgenre or a version of the historical novel. Scholars from the 1930s until the present have made this claim. But Colum McCann, who has authored three extraordinary biographical novels, says that he “hate[s] the historical novel” in two separate interviews, and he explains why in another. McCann is not alone. Prominent biographical novelists like Olga Tokarczuk, Daniel Kehlmann, Rosa Montero, Joanna Scott, Colm Tóibín, and Bruce Duffy, to mention only a notable few, unambiguously distance themselves from the historical novel. The question is why. In this interview, Michael Lackey, editor of two volumes of interviews with famous biographical novelists and author of The American Biographical Novel and Ireland, the Irish, and the Rise of Biofiction, will get some answers from McCann to pressing questions about biofiction.
Fiction Meets Science Workshop on Biographical Fiction and the History of Women in Science, 2020
The Enlightenment prioritized science, and this development contributed significantly to the maki... more The Enlightenment prioritized science, and this development contributed significantly to the making and the rise of historical fiction. Many scholars treat biofiction as a subgenre or version of historical fiction, but I argue that biofiction was a reaction against the scientific determinism on which the historical novel is premised. To make my case, I briefly examine Nietzsche's writings. His critique of history as a science mandated the rise of a new literary form like biofiction. Thus Spoke Zarathustra is that form, and it qualifies as a biofiction. After providing a definition of biofiction as a genre focused on human agency, I then examine some texts that either foreground science or feature scientists as protagonists.
This was a public lecture about St. Clair Drake that I delivered at the St. Clair Drake Center fo... more This was a public lecture about St. Clair Drake that I delivered at the St. Clair Drake Center for African and African American Studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago on March 6, 2013
MLA, 2020
Hassan Najmi’s Gertrude (2014) is a biographical novel set in Morocco, France, and the United Sta... more Hassan Najmi’s Gertrude (2014) is a biographical novel set in Morocco, France, and the United States. The contemporary Moroccan narrator tells the story of Gertrude Stein, who visited Morocco in the early twentieth century, and Muhammad, a fictional character who lived with Stein in Paris for a short time. The actual Stein did visit Morocco, but while she initially acknowledged the impact the culture and place had on her life and art, she ultimately dismissed the experience. To visualize how Stein marginalized the Arab influence on her life and work, Najmi uses the Muhammad character as a symbol. Stein at first treats him with dignity and respect, but eventually, she relegates him to the inferior position of a subhuman servant before she ultimately banishes him. Stein’s treatment of the Arab stands in stark contrast to Henri Matisse, who is also a character in the novel. Like Stein, he visits Morocco, but he openly acknowledges for the remainder of his career how Arab culture and people inspired and enriched his art.
In this paper, I will clarify how Najmi uses the biographical novel to picture the way Arab culture and art powered and enriched modernist aesthetics, but also the way that impact was dismissed and suppressed, as with Stein, or acknowledged and celebrated, as with Matisse. What accounts for this difference? The answer lies in the implicit conception of what constitutes the human, and within this framework, place in its broad meaning is crucial. When in Morocco, Stein and Matisse place Arab culture and people on an equal footing with European and American culture and people. But when in France, Stein ultimately places an Arab low on the scale of human being, while Matisse places the Arab on the same level as Europeans. As I will show, Najmi strategically places his Arab protagonist in relation to famous modernist artists in order to expose which ones have implicitly adopted a view of the Arab as human or subhuman.
Biofiction is fiction, not biography. However, some scholars treat biofiction as if it were biogr... more Biofiction is fiction, not biography. However, some scholars treat biofiction as if it were biography, and this has had disastrous consequences. To illustrate what biofiction actually is and does, I examine some contemporary biographical novels by Virginia Woolf, Peter Carey, Joanna Scott, Irvin Yalom, and others.
MLA Portugal Summer 2019
Given that biofiction names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, some have treated ... more Given that biofiction names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, some have treated this form of literature as biography. But authors of biofiction use rather than represent the lives of actual people, so it is inaccurate to treat biofiction as a form of biography. The papers in this panel will examine responsible and irresponsible usages of actual lives and they will clarify some of the aesthetic objectives of biographical novelists.
As far as I can tell, Oscar Wilde was the first person to make a comment about biofiction. In th... more As far as I can tell, Oscar Wilde was the first person to make a comment about biofiction. In this paper, I examine what led Wilde to think about biofiction, and I demonstrate that many contemporary authors of biofiction have adopted his aesthetic approach, whether they know his work or not. I focus on William Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turner, Colm Toibin's The Master, Colum McCann's TransAtlantic, and Mario Vargas Llosa's The Dream of the Celt.
Colm Tóibín's biographical novel The Master explores the inner life of Henry James--so it seems. ... more Colm Tóibín's biographical novel The Master explores the inner life of Henry James--so it seems. But as I demonstrate, the biographical novel is less interested in representing the life of an actual historical figure than in using the life of a biographical figure in order to project the author's own vision of life and the world. In this paper, I do an analysis of Tóibín's The Master. But, contrary to what scholars say, I argue that Oscar Wilde is the primary master of The Master.
Can Nazi children's books help us define the specific version of Christianity that enabled the Na... more Can Nazi children's books help us define the specific version of Christianity that enabled the Nazis to justify their anti-Semitic political agenda? I argue that they can. Included in this talk are some powerful images from Nazi children's books as well as Nazi newspapers. These images best picture the version of Christianity that Hitler and the Nazis adopted.
Biofiction has become a dominant literary form in recent years. But why did it come into being a... more Biofiction has become a dominant literary form in recent years. But why did it come into being and what is it uniquely capable of doing? Using the work of Walter Benjamin, I identify a couple major developments in intellectual history that necessitated the rise and legitimization of biofiction. My claim is that the biographical novel is both realist and surrealist, and as such, it can better picture major historical collisions than the classical historical novel. I examine biographical novels about Walter Benjamin and Friedrich Nietzsche to make my case. This paper is from the Modernist Studies Association conference in Pasadena 2016.
Virginia Woolf appears as a character in many contemporary biographical novels. Given that the n... more Virginia Woolf appears as a character in many contemporary biographical novels. Given that the novelists name their protagonist after an actual historical figure, many assume that the authors are trying to do biography, so they fault the novelists for altering facts about the subject's life. By doing a brief history and survey of contemporary biofiction, I explain why biographical novelists feel that they can take liberties with the facts about a person's life. I also clarify why Woolf could not imagine her way to biofiction. If anyone has questions or revision suggestions, please let me know.
I organized a panel on the topic of biofiction for the MLA convention. I will give the first pap... more I organized a panel on the topic of biofiction for the MLA convention. I will give the first paper, which is about the rise and legitimization of the biographical novel. The paper is very short. It is intended to introduce the idea of biofiction to the audience, so that members of the audience can better appreciate the following papers from my co-panelists. If anybody has recommendations for expanding or clarifying the ideas, let me know.
Ludwig Wittgenstein was Jewish, but he made some antisemitic remarks in his notebooks in the 1930... more Ludwig Wittgenstein was Jewish, but he made some antisemitic remarks in his notebooks in the 1930s. Wittgenstein's antisemitism was formalized into a seemingly expert discourse about the Jews. In The World as I Found It, which is a biographical novel about Wittgenstein, Duffy creates the character of Max, who is an uneducated antisemite. But it is through Max's conversations with Wittgenstein that he finally internalizes a formal and comprehensive antisemitism. In this paper, which is a truncated version of a chapter that I'm currently writing, I clarify how Max symbolizes a dark, antisemitic undercurrent in Wittgenstein's philosophy.
This is an abstract for a panel I organized on the topic of biographical fiction.
Students frequently ask for the criteria I use in order determine what constitutes high-quality w... more Students frequently ask for the criteria I use in order determine what constitutes high-quality writing. I have put together this handout, which details what professors expect from students in academic writing.
College writing
Writing papers at the last minute usually results in weak essays. To write a better essay, it is ... more Writing papers at the last minute usually results in weak essays. To write a better essay, it is best to revise. More importantly, engaging in the process of revising a paper contributes significantly to the development of one's cognitive abilities. Here is a suggested writing timeline for students in undergraduate classes. Obviously, the timeline will differ based on the length of the assignment. But this time line should give you some ideas about the process of writing a strong essay.
Syllabus
In this course, we will examine the works of prominent American writers from the Civil War to the... more In this course, we will examine the works of prominent American writers from the Civil War to the present. Students will be expected to understand the works of individual writers, literary movements, intellectual developments, and thematic concerns. There will be six quizzes (only five will count), four paragraph assignments, and three exams. Course Requirements: Quizzes 20 (six quizzes, each worth four points. Only five will count.
Syllabus
Studying world literature forces readers to exit their own spatial bubble and experience life fro... more Studying world literature forces readers to exit their own spatial bubble and experience life from a wide range of unfamiliar perspectives. Dislocating and disorienting you—those sound like negative experiences. But in this class, becoming alienated from your comfortable self is an extremely valuable exercise, as it will force you to see alternative realities and open you up to new possibilities for thinking and being. In this course, we will examine famous works from many countries across the globe in order to reflect on the way culture shapes and determines literary forms and systems of thinking. There will be six quizzes (only five will count), four paragraph assignments, and three exams.
Syllabus, 2024
In this course, you will practice (and hopefully master) a variety of writing and critical readin... more In this course, you will practice (and hopefully master) a variety of writing and critical reading and thinking skills required for successful work at the college level. Specifically, you will be asked to complete three major writing assignments and numerous shorter writing and reading assignments. You will also be required to conduct research for a few of your assignments, since research forms an essential part of all academic work.
Introducing Quotations, 2024
When supplying your reader with evidence to justify your claims, you will oftentimes quote from a... more When supplying your reader with evidence to justify your claims, you will oftentimes quote from a text. But keep in mind that there are standard conventions for introducing quoted material, and for your convenience, I list a few of these strategies in this handout.
Syllabus, 2024
This is an introduction to African American literature, which means that we will survey a wide va... more This is an introduction to African American literature, which means that we will survey a wide variety of writings from prominent African American authors. In this course, we will focus on the way African American writers used the written word to challenge the white racist (supremacist) interpretation of blacks, to forge their own identity, and to secure agency for themselves and their communities. We will also examine the texts within their historical and political contexts.
Syllabus, 2024
Course Description and Objectives We will read, analyze, and interpret multicultural literature. ... more Course Description and Objectives We will read, analyze, and interpret multicultural literature. Our objectives are to understand the degree to which ethnicity and race play a role in the formation of a national identity and to define a distinctively multicultural aesthetic.
Syllabus, 2024
Science and scientists figure prominently in some excellent works of literature. In this 1000-lev... more Science and scientists figure prominently in some excellent works of literature. In this 1000-level course, students will study literature about real and fictional scientists. But it is important to keep in mind that this is a literature course, which means that the emphasis is on the fiction rather than the science. What exactly does that mean? Authors of fiction note the significance of science and scientific discoveries, but they are more interested in symbolic and metaphorical meaning than they are in the actual science and discovery in themselves. In this course, we will examine how scientific discoveries impact literature, but also how literature can be used to scrutinize the ethical and political consequences of scientific discoveries as they function within culture and society.
Writing course, 2023
In this course, you will practice (and hopefully master) a variety of writing and critical readin... more In this course, you will practice (and hopefully master) a variety of writing and critical reading and thinking skills required for successful work at the college level. Specifically, you will be asked to complete three major writing assignments and numerous shorter writing and reading assignments. You will also be required to conduct research for a few of your assignments, since research forms an essential part of all academic work.
Teaching, 2023
From Shakespeare to the present, mental illness has figured prominently in literature. In this co... more From Shakespeare to the present, mental illness has figured prominently in literature. In this course, students will read texts and watch films in which authors and directors dramatize people struggling to come to terms with depression, anxiety, and other forms of mental illness. Central to the course are unsettling questions. Is mental illness primarily caused by environmental factors, something like patriarchal oppression? Or, is it primarily the consequence of chemical imbalances in the brain? Is it possible that seeming cures by accredited authorities not only fail to foster improvement but also exacerbate the problem? We will examine a wide variety of works of literature and film that struggle to make sense of mental illness in variant forms.
Syllabus, 2023
The 1990s witnessed the legitimization of what we now refer to as the biographical novel. Many pr... more The 1990s witnessed the legitimization of what we now refer to as the biographical novel. Many prominent mid-twentieth century intellectuals critiqued and sometimes condemned this form of fiction, but by the 1990s, it had become so popular that it was no longer possible to ignore or disregard it. In this seminar, students will specifically read biographical novels from the nineteenth century until the present.
Syllabus, 2023
Course Description and Objectives We will read, analyze, and interpret multicultural literature. ... more Course Description and Objectives We will read, analyze, and interpret multicultural literature. Our objectives are to understand the degree to which ethnicity and race play a role in the formation of a national identity and to define a distinctively multicultural aesthetic. There will be six quizzes (only five will count), two essays (one short and one long), and two exams.
African American Women Writers, 2022
If African Americans struggled to achieve equality and recognition in the racist United States, t... more If African Americans struggled to achieve equality and recognition in the racist United States, the situation was even more difficult for African American women, who had to contend with sexism in both the white and black communities. In this course, we will examine the writings of prominent African American women. There will be quizzes, two essays, and two exams.
In Search of Nietzsche, 2022
Considered one of the most original thinkers of all time, Friedrich Nietzsche changed the course ... more Considered one of the most original thinkers of all time, Friedrich Nietzsche changed the course of intellectual, philosophical, and literary history. So fascinating and complicated were Nietzsche’s theories regarding the death of God, the genealogical formation of ‘truth,’ and the will to power that prominent novelists have given Nietzsche and/or his ideas a central place in their literary works. In this interdisciplinary course, we will read some books by and novels about Nietzsche in order to discover who this remarkable man was. Authors to be discussed: Plato, Nietzsche, Lou-Andreas Salome, Richard Wright, Lance Olsen, Milan Kundera, and Irvin D. Yalom.
Writing an academic paragraph, 2022
Students have asked me to make this sheet about writing academic paragraphs available. If you wan... more Students have asked me to make this sheet about writing academic paragraphs available. If you want to use this instruction sheet in your classes, you have permission. You do not need to contact me for permission.
Central to work at the university is the empirical method, which is the art of using credible evidence to clarify and justify claims you make. This paragraph assignment has been designed to train students in the art of using the empirical method for defending and supporting claims about a literary work. What I ask you to do in this paragraph is something you should do regularly in your writing and thinking about literature. For your benefit, I have identified five essential parts of the academic paragraph. Topic sentence: This sentence should make a point that is not obvious and that needs support, or evidence, to be convincing.
Syllabus
In this course, we will examine the works of prominent American writers from the Civil War to the... more In this course, we will examine the works of prominent American writers from the Civil War to the present. Students will be expected to understand the works of individual writers, literary movements, intellectual developments, and thematic concerns. There will be six quizzes (only five will count), four paragraph assignments, and three exams. Course Requirements: Quizzes 20 (six quizzes, each worth four points. Only five will count.) Exam #1 20 Exam #2 20 Exam #3 20 Paragraph assignments 20 (four paragraphs, each worth five points) Grading Scale: 100-94=A, 93-90=A-, 89-87=B+, 86-84=B, 83-80=B-, … Course Goals: Successfully completing this course means sufficiently mastering the following skills (they appear in no particular order): *critical and close reading *analysis (textual and otherwise) *writing with clarity *clear and logical organization on all levels *thesis development *effective use of a variety of evidence types *development of logical arguments *audience analysis *polished writing free of basic grammatical errors *an understanding of what constitutes plagiarism
Syllabus, 2022
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and it has... more Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual historical figure, and it has become a dominant literary form in recent years. Because the main character is named after a real person, some people wrongly assume that biofiction is a form of biography, an attempt to accurately represent the life of a person from the past. But this is not correct. Biofiction is fiction, not biography, and as such, authors find something of value in the story of their subject, and then they fictionalize that story in order to make sense of life more generally. In other words, authors frequently take fictional liberties with the historical and biographical facts in order to give readers their own visions of life and the world. What is it in the lives of Frederick and Anna Douglass, Serena Williams, Galileo, or Friedrich Nietzsche that is so relevant and meaningful for us today? That is the kind of question we will answer through fictions and films about important historical figures. In this course we will specifically examine social justice biofiction, which is literature that fictionalizes the life of an actual person in order to promote and advance justice for people and groups that have been marginalized and oppressed. There has been very little scholarship about the nature of the biographical novel, so this is a great opportunity for you, as you can be one of the first to create a system of knowledge to make sense of this aesthetic form, and that is what we will do during the course of this semester. Students will write two papers and take two exams.
Syllabus, 2021
This is an introduction to African American literature, which means that we will survey a wide va... more This is an introduction to African American literature, which means that we will survey a wide variety of writings from prominent African American authors. In this course, we will focus on the way African American writers used the written word to challenge the white racist (supremacist) interpretation of blacks, to forge their own identity, and to secure agency for themselves and their communities. We will also examine the texts within their historical and political contexts. Students will take six pop quizzes (only five will count), write two papers, and do two exams. Pop quizzes will be given at the beginning of class. If you are absent or late, you cannot make up a quiz.
Syllabus, 2021
In this course, you will practice (and hopefully master) a variety of writing and critical readin... more In this course, you will practice (and hopefully master) a variety of writing and critical reading and thinking skills required for successful work at the college level. Specifically, you will be asked to complete three major writing assignments and numerous shorter writing and reading assignments. You will also be required to conduct research for a few of your assignments, since research forms an essential part of all academic work.
World Biofictionalists in Translation: Literature as Existential Map, 2025
There have been two volumes of interviews with prominent biofictionalists, and while they have pr... more There have been two volumes of interviews with prominent biofictionalists, and while they have proven to be immensely valuable to scholars, they are limited in that they focus primarily on writers from English-speaking countries. In short, there is a need for a volume of interviews with famous biofictionalists who write in a language other than English. To address this need, we are soliciting interviews with famous biofictionalists from 20 to 25 countries. Those interviews should be conducted in the author’s native language but then translated into English. The interviews should be between 5000 and 7500 words. They are due by August 15, 2025. All submissions should be sent to Michael Lackey (lacke010@morris.umn.edu). Attached is a CFI (call for interviews), which will give you more specific information about the project.
Biofiction Listserv Biofiction, literature that names its protagonist after an actual biographica... more Biofiction Listserv Biofiction, literature that names its protagonist after an actual biographical figure, has become a dominant literary form in recent years., to name only a notable few, authored important biographical novels that garnered much critical acclaim. But the scholarship about biofiction is only recently starting to gain traction. To promote scholarly work about biofiction, there is a listserv with the following objectives: 1) to organize conference panels on the topic of biofiction, 2) to announce new publications about biofiction, 3) to issue CFPs about biofiction to the most suitable scholars, 4) to encourage and engage in conversations about biofiction, 5) and to share strategies for teaching biofiction. To subscribe to the biofiction listserv, send a message to Michael Lackey (lacke010@morris.umn.edu) with Biofiction in the subject line. You will then be added to the listserve.
Ireland, the Irish, and the Rise of Biofiction
For the last three years I have been working on my current book project, which is titled Ireland,... more For the last three years I have been working on my current book project, which is titled Ireland, the Irish, and the Rise of Biofiction. I am nearly finished with a full draft, and I just completed my introduction. If any of you have time to read it, and it is short, here is what I would like to know. One, is the introduction clear? In other words, based on the introduction, do you get a clear sense of what I intend to argue in the book? Second, does it make you want to read the book? Put differently, does it sound like the book would be worth reading? I will be immensely grateful for any feedback.
This is the introduction to my book of interviews with biographical novelists from across the glo... more This is the introduction to my book of interviews with biographical novelists from across the globe. Unlike Truthful Fictions, which contained only my interviews, many other scholars interviewed prominent biographical novelists for this book. My plan is to submit the book to my editor by early February. If you spot any errors or have any suggestions for improvement, please let me know. I still need to write a conclusion. For your benefit, here is the table of contents:
Conversations with Biographical Novelists:
Truthful Fictions across the Globe
Edited by Michael Lackey
Table of Contents
Kevin Barry, interviewed by Stuart Kane: Positive Contamination in the Biographical Novel
Laurent Binet, interviewed by Monica Latham: Reflections on Truth, Veracity, Fictionalization, and Falsification
Javier Cercas, interviewed by Virginia Rademacher: Resisting the “dictatorship of the present” in the Biographical Novel
Barbara Chase-Riboud, interviewed by Melanie Masterton Sherazi: Sally Hemings’ Staircase: On Biofiction’s Afterlives
Emma Donoghue, interviewed by Michael Lackey: Voicing the Nobodies in the Biographical Novel
David Ebershoff, interviewed by Michael Lackey: The Biographical Novel as Life Art
Hannah Kent, interviewed by Kelly Gardiner: Fictions of Women
David Lodge, interviewed by Bethany Layne: The Bionovel as a Hybrid Genre
Colum McCann, interviewed by Michael Lackey: Contested Realities in the Biographical Novel
Anchee Min, interviewed by Michael Lackey: The Biographical Novelist as Cultural Diagnostician
Rosa Montero, interviewed by Virginia Rademacher: Speculative Subjectivities and the Biofictional Surge
Stephanus Muller, interviewed by Willemien Froneman: Stitching up the Auto/Biographical Seam
Sabina Murray, interviewed by Michael Lackey: Complex Psychologies in the Biographical Novel
Nuala O’Connor, interviewed by Julie A. Eckerle: The Slant Truth of the Biographical Novel
Susan Sellers, interviewed by Bethany Layne: Postmodernism and the Biographical Novel
Colm Tóibín, interviewed by Bethany Layne: The Anchored Imagination of the Biographical Novel
Olga Tokarczuk, interviewed by Robert Kusek and Wojciech Szymański: I Believe in the Novel
Chika Unigwe, interviewed by Michael Lackey: Biographical Fiction and the Creation of Possible Lives