On Writing Michael O’Brien’s Biography

• Biography as a genre both in the first and third person has a long history, which is evidence of the abiding, not to say innate, interest in life narratives. The genre of biographies of literary authors is a subgenre that combines literary criticism with the drama of personal life and attempts to connect these in an interesting way. The life stories of the saints in the Catholic tradition, on the other hand, are foremost aimed at showing examples of heroic virtue to inspire the faithful to follow in the footsteps of the saint. When writing the biography of a contemporary author who takes his or her religious life seriously, one needs to balance the human drama of life narrative, the exemplary function of religious life, and literary criticism. What I intend to offer you in this short article are some preliminary thoughts on these interconnected concerns, as I am presently writing a biography of the Canadian author Michael O’Brien (1948–). Particularly, I would like to dwell on the methodological (and moral-spiritual) challenges when caught in the tension between the approaches within religious studies (subfield: religion and literature), and those of theology broadly understood (subfield: theology and literature).

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Religionsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Religious Studies (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Biography

Michael D. O'Brien

theology

literature

Canada

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kap (ämneskategori)