Private Lives Made Public: The Invention of Biography in Early Modern England

In the seventeenth century, England experienced a surge in biographical writing, particularly after the execution of Charles I in 1649. Andrea Walkden's book explores this trend, examining why life stories became crucial for political discourse in the late seventeenth century. She argues that these biographies sought to replace political argument with personal narratives, creating a new form of political communication. Walkden's study focuses on widely consumed works such as the Eikon Basilike, Izaak Waltons Lives, John Aubreys Brief Lives, and Daniel Defoes Memoirs of a Cavalier, highlighting their complex engagement with the political and literary context of the time.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 275 pages
Publication date: 01 November 2022
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press

Following the trial and execution of Charles I in 1649, the seventeenth century witnessed an explosion of print culture in England, including an unprecedented boom in biographical writing. Andrea Walkden offers a case-study examination of this fascinating trend, bringing together texts that generations of scholars have considered piecemeal and primarily as sources for their own research.

Private Lives Made Public: The Invention of Biography in Early Modern England contributes an incisive, fresh take on life-writing, a catch-all label that, in contemporary discourse, encompasses biography, autobiography, memoirs, letters, diaries, journals, and even blogs and examines why the writing of life stories appeared somehow newly necessary and newly challenging for political discourse in the late seventeenth century. Walkden engages readers in a compelling discussion of what she terms biographical populism, arguing that the biographies of this period sought to replace political argument with life stories, thus conducting politics by another means. The modern biography, then, emerges after 1649 as a cultural weapon designed to reorient political discourse away from the analysis of public institutions and practices toward a less threatening, but similarly meaningful, conversation about the unfolding of an individual's life in the realm of private experience.

Unlike other recent studies, Walkden moves toward a consideration of widely consumed works—the Eikon Basilike, Izaak Waltons Lives, John Aubreys Brief Lives, and Daniel Defoes Memoirs of a Cavalier—and gives particular attention to their complex engagement with that political and literary moment.

In conclusion, Private Lives Made Public: The Invention of Biography in Early Modern England is a groundbreaking work that offers a fresh and insightful perspective on the emergence of the modern biography in seventeenth-century England. By examining the complex relationship between life-writing and political discourse, Walkden demonstrates how the writing of life stories became a powerful tool for reorienting political discourse away from the analysis of public institutions and practices and toward a more personal and meaningful conversation about the unfolding of an individual's life in the realm of private experience. This book will be of interest to scholars of early modern history, literature, and politics, as well as anyone with an interest in the history of biography and the ways in which it has shaped our understanding of the past.

Weight: 342g
Dimension: 229 x 153 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780271092973