Biographer Gabriella Kelly-Davies chats with biographers across the world about the myriad of choices they make while researching, writing and publishing life stories. In every episode, she explores elements of narrative strategy such as structure, use of fiction techniques, facts and truth, beginnings and endings and to what extent the writer interpreted the evidence rather than providing clues and leaving it to readers to do the interpreting themselves. She also asks how they researched their books; how they balanced a subject’s public, personal and inner lives; and ethical issues, such as privacy and revealing secrets.
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Biographer Gabriella Kelly-Davies chats with biographers across the world about the myriad of choices they make while researching, writing and publishing life stories. In every episode, she explores elements of narrative strategy such as structure, use of fiction techniques, facts and truth, beginnings and endings and to what extent the writer interpreted the evidence rather than providing clues and leaving it to readers to do the interpreting themselves. She also asks how they researched their books; how they balanced a subject’s public, personal and inner lives; and ethical issues, such as privacy and revealing secrets.
Heather Clark: "Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath"
Biographers in Conversation
1 hour 1 minute
1 month ago
Heather Clark: "Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath"
In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, multi-award-winning biographer Dr Heather Clark chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
Why Heather Clark intentionally shifts the narrative away from Sylvia Plath’s tragic death to celebrate her vibrant life and literary achievements.
Why Heather emphasises Sylvia Plath’s ambition, joy and creative courage as a young woman navigating the mid-20th-century’s literary culture.
The challenge of navigating an avalanche of archival material to find the narrative thread in Plath’s life.
How Heather balanced rigorous scholarship with the art of storytelling, giving Red Comet the propulsive narrative energy of a novel despite its scholarly depth.
How Heather portrayed Plath’s inner life with empathy and honesty.
How Heather focuses on Plath’s literary significance, repositioning her among the most important writers of the 20th century.
How by challenging one-dimensional stereotypes, Red Comet invites a new appreciation of Plath’s genius and legacy beyond the shadow of her death.
Biographers in Conversation
Biographer Gabriella Kelly-Davies chats with biographers across the world about the myriad of choices they make while researching, writing and publishing life stories. In every episode, she explores elements of narrative strategy such as structure, use of fiction techniques, facts and truth, beginnings and endings and to what extent the writer interpreted the evidence rather than providing clues and leaving it to readers to do the interpreting themselves. She also asks how they researched their books; how they balanced a subject’s public, personal and inner lives; and ethical issues, such as privacy and revealing secrets.
