A biography is a record of the life and work of an individual, generally of a great man. What used to be formerly a mere chronicle or a record of events, has now become a kind of literary art. A good biography is no longer a dry and day-to-day account of the doings and saying of a great man; it is an art that focuses the actual man as he was in real life.
Biography was not unknown to ancient India. But it was almost exclusively confined to religious leaders. Aswaghosha’s Buddha-Charita is perhaps the earliest biography in India. Chaitanya Charitamrita is the earliest biography in Bengal. The purpose of these books was not to describe a life with faithful accounts but to illustrate religious greatness, how the avatar (saintly messenger of God) reflects himself in the heart of the devotee as also what is his philosophy.
Biography as an art may be said to have been created by James Boswell, the immortal biographer of Dr. Samuel Johnson. He has not only given us a minute and painstaking record of his hero’s life; he has picked up typical episodes and conversations; he has narrated tell-tale anecdotes. Then came Lytton Strachey who evolved a manner of writing analytical biography. He picked up gossips and anecdotes, and then wove them into a dramatic narrative full of irony and wit and thus, created a personality, which was certainly eminently living. The essence of a modern biography is not only truth but vitality, by presenting both the strong points and weak points of the hero in a balanced manner.
It is better to give us facts, carefully tested and describes what is true even though they happen to be culled. Should then the biographer sacrifice the truth of detail in order to achieve the vitality of the whole and to project the hero? The true biographer takes his hint from the impression, which his hero had left on the minds of his contemporaries. The biographer should try to be detached and not over-awed by the magnetic personality of the hero. So for him the question is not selection but rejection of materials from the stupendous mass of the details and information he is faced with. Only then, he can focus the searchlight properly.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Biography, therefore, is an art. For it is a loving portrait of a man, not an account of his work. Plato was the earliest writer who had mastered the art. He presented to us Socrates as he was among his disciples and not only his wisdom but also his wit constantly flashes out and illuminates the man. A good biography sets the hero in the midst of his environments and associates. Nagen Shome’s Madhu Smriti, life of poet Madhusudan, is an authentic record based on carefully sifted facts, yet perhaps the man is better presented in Pramatha Bisi’s sketch — Michael Charit. The moral attitude that seeks to present an all-too-good type of man is something unconvincing. Such, for examples, is Chandicharan Banerjee’s portrayal of Vidyasagar as a superman, He has given some overdrawn or super human accounts about the great Bengalee.
The fact is that a good biographer must be something of a poet. He must identify himself with his hero like the novelist. He must feel as the hero felt, think as the thought.
Of course, in Europe, the biased biography has come into vogue only in the twentieth century. The European tendency in favour of belittling greatness persists. Biographies written by Emile Ludwig of Germany and Andre Murois of France are no hero-worshipping presentation. We, in India, however, like a biography to point a moral by idealising the hero and paying homage to him. We are always convinced that lives of great men should have the power to make our lives sublime.
Another function of a biography is that it gives us much information about the age in which the hero lived. The biography thus becomes an ally of history. Carelyle looked upon all biography as a species of history. A study of Vidyasagar’e life, as presented by Benoy Ghose, for example, gives us a more accurate picture of the ferment created in our society in Vidyasagar’s period than any mere history can. The contemporary times have been vivified.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Thus the study of biography is not only a pleasant diversion; it has also a deep educative value. It teaches us much about the past that is worth knowing and may do us a world of good in the-practical affairs of life. But even more, the life of a great man is often a beacon of light that keeps us away front many pitfalls. Longfellow has truly sung:
Lives of great men all remind us. We can make our lives sublime.