Is biography fiction or fact?

seribulan

A conversation with Pat Shipman


Science writer Pat Shipman discusses whether biography is fiction or fact.
Photo by Dana Bauer

October 6, 2004

Pat Shipman, science writer and adjunct professor of anthropology, kicked off the fall 2004 season of Research Unplugged on Wednesday with a discussion titled, "Biography: Fact or Fiction?"

"I think a good biographer has to write fiction some of the time to make apparent a significant event in someone's life," Shipman told a group of students, faculty, and community members at the Penn State Downtown Theatre Center. She also pointed out that while "hard-line biographers" disapprove of such methods, many writers of popular biographies use literary devices, such as the creation of dialogue, to tell the stories of their subjects.

http://www.rps.psu.edu/unplugged/fall04/shipman.html

actually, there’s a thin line here dividing fiction and non-fiction…it can overlap, too…

MACD

Strictly speaking, biographies should fall under non-fiction category. However, it appears that some writers to be creative and pollute the purpose of non-fiction writings i.e. to present facts. This type of biographies should not be placed under the non-fiction category, in my humble opinion.

limau_nipis

Originally posted by MACD at 30/3/06 07:13 PM
Strictly speaking, biographies should fall under non-fiction category. However, it appears that some writers to be creative and pollute the purpose of non-fiction writings i.e. to present facts. Th ...

i suppose they author wants it to be moe attractive, thus will increase sale of the book?

not sure about this, but i still prefer true accounts, eventho to some people, it is boring. but view as this, great peoples had many biographies dedicated to them, even tho their life is simple as us

pessoa

Siapa yang tentukan apa itu fakta dan apa itu bukan fakta?

Kebenaran itu perspektif.

MACD

Originally posted by pessoa at 31-3-2006 09:25 AM
Siapa yang tentukan apa itu fakta dan apa itu bukan fakta?

Kebenaran itu perspektif.

Fact and truth are two different things. Facts never change but truth, as you said is depend on one's perspective.

pessoa

So fact tu apa? Truth tu apa?

yaneng

well....the bio books i read gave a glimpse of facts and maybe some true findings on the person written....so I did learn some good things and some weird thing about some of the people that i read...ha ha....but the one that i keep n still re read until today is on Gandhi....what a man....

seribulan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact

A Fact is believed to be represented by some of the following:
A honest observation.
A honest observation confirmed by respected observers.
An observation that that stood the test of time to the point it is thought to be an absolutely correct concrete actual truth.
Errors are common in the interpretation of the meaning of observations.
Power is frequently used to force the politcally correct interpretation of an observation.
All fundamental measurements will change based on relativitistic effects as you approach the speed of light therefore the best we can do is give probablistic estimates of events.
A repeatedly observed regularity.
Something thought to be actual as opposed to invented.
Something concrete used as a basis for further interpretation.
Information about a particular subject.
Something believed to be the case.
One observation of any phenomenon does not prove anything
A fact may tentatively support or refute a model of how the universe works.
Facts do not prove a model is correct.

Science uses facts. Science fundamentally means "Let me tell you HOW I believe I LOGICALLY THINK I know."

Truth means that the data or facts have accumulated to such an extent it becomes increasingly difficult to see another way of understanding what the data actually means. Historically, truths are found not to be true.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth

There is no single definition of truth that is not also controversial; rather there are various complementary or contrary definitions. Saying that a statement is true can be simply a way of agreeing with the statement, but some theories maintain that truth can mean more than that. There are also different views regarding how to test claims of truth, and the sorts of things that can properly be called true or false.

Robust theories of truth treat truth as an attribute. Deflationary theories propose that "truth" is simply a tool of language to express agreement or to emphasize a claim.

lady_nF

debate pasal nih kluar bila oprah books' club punya buku
A Million Little Pieces (James Frey's memoir) busted for fabrication
dia mmg ada bukti2 nak cakap incident dalam buku tuh betul2 berlaku..resit2, doctor note...
tp dia cam tokok tambah
contoh dia duduk jail 3 jam tp dia cakap 3 hari...

so jadinya cita tuh half truth/half fiction cam kes Frey nih

so pasal tuh orang debate...nih masuk mana..
nak letak dalam kategori apa?

personally....
i really like the way of writing si james nih
refreshing...and representing isu zaman sekarang
and i dont really care if it's fiction or not

dutchy

Kebanyakkan buku2 tentang auto biography ni is 'peppered' with fiction
to make it more interesting...and who have the time to go around and search for the truth?

Some people prefer to published their memoirs after they passed on...I guess such memoirs contains more facts rather then fiction...and so that they don't hv to deal with the question of the personas mentioned in their book...they prefer that it'll be read after they are gone

tak suka sgt baca biography..even thought ada baca sal Lee Kuan Yew punya...and ever abt Joanne Collins

mardhiah12

Biography is always well written after the person passed away. For me, it should be done during when the person is alive as a token of appreciation to them. But, it depends on the wish of the person itself. True biography may be a tad bit boring to some people, but some writers thinking of cashing in quick money, the elaborate & exaggerate it a little further, which sometimes made the people as heroic figures indeed.

Not just books, lots of movies also put some element on fiction in it to spice up things, as they may say.

seribulan

(Source: Reader's Digest, September 2000)

" Memory is a device for forgetting as well as remembering. To that extent, every autobiography is a work of fiction and every work of fiction an autobiography."

seribulan

(Source: Reader's Digest, September 2000)

" Memory is a device for forgetting as well as remembering. To that extent, every autobiography is a work of fiction and every work of fiction an autobiography."

lambaian

fiction pun ada
fact pun ada