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Reviewing Biography, Part Two: Literary Critics

I have rarely read reviews of biography that actually assess how a biographer has handled evidence that the reviewer has also examined, though some exceptions occur.

T. Trotter via Wikimedia Commons
Portrait of Samuel Johnson from Boswell's ‘Life of Johnson.’ T. Trotter via Wikimedia Commons
CARL ROLLYSON
CARL ROLLYSON

Literary critics, I tweeted, should not be allowed to write reviews of biography. I’d make a few exceptions, I thought, but not many.

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CARL ROLLYSON
CARL ROLLYSON

Mr. Rollyson is the author of The Life of William Faulkner and The Last Days of Sylvia Plath. He has published fourteen biographies and has written about biography for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington, Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New Criterion, and other publications.

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