Carl Rollyson
A Life in Biography
Talks and interviews about the life of biography as experienced by a biographer over forty years and fourteen biographies, dealing with subjects ranging from Sylvia Plath to William Faulkner, Marilyn Monroe to Susan Sontag, and much more.
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Episodes
Cynthia Ozick and “The Biographer’s Hat” 16.04.2022 23:07
What happens when biographers become the subjects of fiction
Why John C. Calhoun still matters: a talk with his biographer, Robert Elder 08.04.2022 51:10
There is much more to Calhoun, that proponent of slavery, than you might imagine.
The poetry of biography, and the biography of poetry, with Iris Jamahl Dunkle 02.04.2022 38:51
The poet as biographer and the biographer as poet
Talking with Lee Kravetz about his fresh, intriguing depiction of Sylvia Plath and her world 27.03.2022 38:51
A follow up to my New York Sun review of Lee Kravetz’s marvelously inventive novel about Sylvia Plath and the conditions of her life and her creativity.
A conversation with David Beveridge, narrator of volume 2 of The Life of William Faulkner 19.03.2022 36:25
What goes into an audiobook: the commitment, the performance, the technical details and equipment, and why, in this case, it matters that we hear Faulkner’s voice.
The Story of My Psychoanalysis and Sylvia Plath 12.03.2022 15:30
An excerpt from my work in progress, The Making of Sylvia Plath
Hemingway’s Widow: A Conversation with Timothy Christian about his new biography of Mary Hemingway 05.03.2022 7:37:20
A conversation with Timothy Christian, who provides new insight into the Hemingway marriage, and into the way biographies are constructed and managed between biographers and their sources.
A conversation with Kathleen Brady about her biography of the saints of Assisi: Francis and Clare 26.02.2022 44:43
Learn how Kathleen Brady did Plutarch proud and managed, as well, to write a biography for our times.
Another biography for Black History Month. 23.02.2022 7:35
The Recovered Life of Isaac Anderson, a well composed biography by Alicia K. Jackson, published by University Press of Mississippi.
A conversation with James McGrath Morris, author of Tony Hillerman: A Life 19.02.2022 45:55
A wide ranging talk about Hillerman and Morris’s other subjects and how they fit into his conception of biography.
A Biography of the Day for Black History Month 17.02.2022 12:50
A biography of the first Black archeologist that tells us a good deal not only about Black history but about the enticements of biography.
An unusual group biography: The Psychologies of Political Exile: From Ovid to the Dalai Lama 12.02.2022 48:56
A talk with prolific biographer and psychoanalyst, Jay Martin, about exile, displaced peoples, and why it should matter to you.
A conversation with Ralph Eubanks, author of A Place Like Mississippi 05.02.2022 40:34
We range from speaking about the importance of place in memoir and biography to the real and imaginary landscapes of writers, and much more.
Don’t Be Afraid! We’re talking theory here. 03.02.2022 43:41
A discussion with David Veltman and Kerstin Maria Pahl about their contributions to a new book about biography, Fear of Theory.
A lively talk with Steve Paul about Literary Alchemist: The Writing Life of Evan S Connell 29.01.2022 57:40
From Kansas City to medieval alchemy and a lot in between, the life of Evan S. Connell and what it took for a biographer to cover the interstices of this important writer.
Biography of the Day, Part 3 26.01.2022 7:26
Tune in to a special announcement at the beginning of this podcast.
Who is Assia Wevill? Why Does She Matter? 22.01.2022 34:23
How one life can illuminate the lives of others.
The Biography of the Day, Part 2 19.01.2022 9:40
What happens when Frederick Douglass and Andrew Johnson track one another in a Plutarchian biography of parallel lives in the throes of Reconstruction?
Who is Assia Wevill? Why She Matters. Part 1 15.01.2022 43:43
A conversation with Julie Goodspeed-Chadwick and Peter K. Steinberg about their edition of The Collected Writings of Assia Wevill
The Biography of The Day, Part 1 14.01.2022 7:52
Just browse in the bookstore with me. This won’t take long.
Reposting, due to technical difficult. My interview with Debby Applegate about Madam 12.01.2022 53:23
A look at the career of Polly Adler and why it matters.
Reposting this episode in case you had trouble hearing Debby Applegate talk about Polly Adler 12.01.2022 53:23
About the famous madam and much more
Plutarch Redux: Parallel Poems in the Age of Trump by Robert Hamblin 08.01.2022 48:23
Join a conversation in progress about what Plutarch means to us and how to make poetry of Plutarch and biography.
Who’s Afraid of Theory? 01.01.2022 37:14
My take on a new book, Fear of Theory, and why biographers are reluctant to theorize. Also, a preview of coming attractions.
Christmas 1942 at the Faulkners 25.12.2021 8:16
One kind of traditional Christmas
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