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More Issues on Biography/Autobiography
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From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Wed, 15 May 1996 16:51:00 -600
There have been so many important issues about biography and autobiography raised in the past two weeks, as well as an informal discussion of some of the books some of us like (and dislike). I want to invite you to continue to share your thoughts, ideas and experience with other CCBC-NET subscribers with regard to biography and autobiography.
One of the things I find especially important in biographies for young people is a context for the life of the subject. I think it is very difficult for children today to pick up a book about someone who lived 25 years ago, let alone 50 or 100 or more years ago, and understand the individual without having some understanding of the times in which that person lived.
For example, our community, national and global conscience is always developing, so that we are always changing the ways in which we think about - and refer to - the people and events in our lives (hopefully there is a societal shift toward a constant change for the positive).
As an example, we need only consider the ways we think of and refer to one another over time as members of distinct cultural groups. So when I read a biography for young people in which the subject is quoted using a term that I consider racist today, I want to know and I want young readers to know - whether the person being profiled was using language common to the time, and/or whether that person was, indeed, prejudiced againt people of other races and cultures. Perhaps in some cases someone would argue that the issue is incidental to the person's life, but can such an issue can be incidental to any of our lives? In the case of language - and ideas reflective of a time - my thought is that if it's included in the book and it doesn't have a contemporary context today, it needs to be explained, whether as part of the text or a note or in the introduction.
I'm curious if anyone else, like me, has ever been turned off a biography because it lacked such an explanation. Likewise, I'm wondering from those of you who use biographies with young people how important you think providing a context for ideas, language and other aspects of the time are. (One of the things I love about Russell Freeman's books, for example, is the feeling that I'm really getting a full picture of the subject because I understand the issues that affected their life and behavior.)
Megan Schliesman Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison 608&2?03 schliesman at mail.soemadison.wisc.edu
Received on Wed 15 May 1996 05:51:00 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 15 May 1996 16:51:00 -600
There have been so many important issues about biography and autobiography raised in the past two weeks, as well as an informal discussion of some of the books some of us like (and dislike). I want to invite you to continue to share your thoughts, ideas and experience with other CCBC-NET subscribers with regard to biography and autobiography.
One of the things I find especially important in biographies for young people is a context for the life of the subject. I think it is very difficult for children today to pick up a book about someone who lived 25 years ago, let alone 50 or 100 or more years ago, and understand the individual without having some understanding of the times in which that person lived.
For example, our community, national and global conscience is always developing, so that we are always changing the ways in which we think about - and refer to - the people and events in our lives (hopefully there is a societal shift toward a constant change for the positive).
As an example, we need only consider the ways we think of and refer to one another over time as members of distinct cultural groups. So when I read a biography for young people in which the subject is quoted using a term that I consider racist today, I want to know and I want young readers to know - whether the person being profiled was using language common to the time, and/or whether that person was, indeed, prejudiced againt people of other races and cultures. Perhaps in some cases someone would argue that the issue is incidental to the person's life, but can such an issue can be incidental to any of our lives? In the case of language - and ideas reflective of a time - my thought is that if it's included in the book and it doesn't have a contemporary context today, it needs to be explained, whether as part of the text or a note or in the introduction.
I'm curious if anyone else, like me, has ever been turned off a biography because it lacked such an explanation. Likewise, I'm wondering from those of you who use biographies with young people how important you think providing a context for ideas, language and other aspects of the time are. (One of the things I love about Russell Freeman's books, for example, is the feeling that I'm really getting a full picture of the subject because I understand the issues that affected their life and behavior.)
Megan Schliesman Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison 608&2?03 schliesman at mail.soemadison.wisc.edu
Received on Wed 15 May 1996 05:51:00 PM CDT
