About Women
Women and Biographies
Feminist literary critic Carolyn Heilbrun moderates a conversation with a panel of female biographers who have written biographies about women. Panelists include Deirdre Bair, author of Simone de Beauvoir: A Biography (1990); Susan Quinn, author of A Mind of Her Own: The Life of Karen Horney (1987); and Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, author of Anna Freud: A Biography (1988). Heilbrun prompts the panelists to reflect on the role of patriarchy, objectivity, subjectivity, social progress, and historical context in the art of biography. Bair emphasizes the importance of “paying attention to the emotional content of someone’s life;” Quinn argues that biography is ultimately about “making the subject into a real person;” and Young-Bruehl considers the ethical questions of writing biographies and the passive presence of the author (and author’s ideology) in the text. The discussion is followed with questions from the audience.
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