{"id":32,"date":"2010-03-08T09:56:47","date_gmt":"2010-03-08T16:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/julijasukys.com\/?p=32"},"modified":"2011-07-11T12:27:11","modified_gmt":"2011-07-11T16:27:11","slug":"old-book-stara-ksiazka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/julijasukys.com\/?p=32","title":{"rendered":"Writing Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For a long time I resisted calling myself a biographer. I didn\u2019t mean to write these kinds of stories, or those kinds of books. But, like all the best things in life (cats, love) — biography chose me. Despite myself, and despite having been trained as a literary scholar at a time when the author was dead, when a writer\u2019s intention didn\u2019t matter, and when the makings of a literary life were beside the point, writing lives was what I wanted to do.<\/p>\n

I started by telling the story of an Algerian author gunned down in 1993 in a civil war between armed militants and a dictatorship. He was thirty-eight when he was killed, and had accomplished more than most of us do in a lifetime. His name was Tahar Djaout, and the book I wrote about him is called Silence is Death<\/em> (his most famous turn of phrase).<\/p>\n

Next, I wrote the story of a brave librarian who defied Nazism. She left us thousands of letters and scores of diaries in various languages. I used these to write the book I\u2019m calling Beloved Profession<\/em>. It\u2019s not out yet, but I\u2019ll let you know when that happens.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m working on a third project. It\u2019s a personal story that starts in Lithuania, continues in Siberia, and ends in Canada. I\u2019ll let you know more as that develops.<\/p>\n

This blog explores the writing of biography, autobiography and life-writing. I\u2019ll share my understanding of the process, and point to others who I think are doing or have done interesting work in this area. We\u2019ll see how it goes.<\/p>\n

[Photo by Martin Marcinski]<\/p>\n

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