Quote of the Day (James Atlas, on Why Biography is an Art Form)

“Writing a biography resembles writing a novel in that you have to solve the problems that present themselves in writing any narrative. That is why I claim that biography is an art form, because it involves the same narrative and aesthetic questions. The only difference, I’m tempted to say, is that you're dealing with fact instead of inventing facts.”—Biographer James Atlas (1949-2019), interview with Humanities (2000), quoted by Matt Schudel, “Biographer, Publisher Was Meticulous in His Exploration of Literary Lives,” Washington Post, Sept. 12, 2019

After co-writing a biography myself, I’ve come to conclude that such works are, if they’re done right, products of endless toil, tears and sweat—not just for the very real aesthetic reasons of narrative and style that the late Mr. Atlas identifies, but also for the need to get the facts right.

A charitable reader might find one mistake regrettable; a less forgiving reader will feel the worm of doubt growing about the book’s accuracy. With every error after that, the whole edifice of credibility crumbles from within, and with it the reader’s trust in the author and his tale.