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'While speculation has always been crucial to biography, it has often been neglected, denied or misunderstood. This edited collection brings together a group of international biographers to discuss how, and why, each uses speculation in their work; whether this is to conceptualise a project in its early stages, work with scanty or deliberately deceptive sources, or address issues associated with shy or stubborn subjects. After defining the role of speculation in biography, the volume offers a series of work-in-progress case studies that discuss the challenges biographers encounter and address in their work. In addition to defining the ‘speculative spectrum’ within the biographical endeavour, the collection offers a lexicon of new terms to describe different types of biographical speculation, and more deeply engage with the dynamic interplay between research, subjectivity and that which Natalie Zemon Davis dubbed ‘informed imagination’. By mapping the field of speculative biography, the collection demonstrates that speculation is not only innate to biographical practice but also key to rendering the complex mystery of biographical subjects, be they human, animal or even metaphysical.' (Publication summary)
Contents
- Experiments, Opportunities and Provocations in Speculative Biography: Opening and Overview, single work criticism
- A New Contextualisation of ‘"The Facts Formed a Line of Buoys in the Sea of My Own Imagination": History, Fiction and Speculative Biography’", single work criticism
- The Speculative Method: Scientific Guesswork and Narrative as Laboratory, single work criticism
- On the Threshold: Conceptual Speculation, single work criticism
- Show Your Workings : Towards A Creative Historical Toolkit, single work criticism
- Scrying the Lost Wildflowers of ‘Wee Witchee Wee’, single work criticism
- Writing to Save Sun Bears : Speculating about Non-Human Characters within Biography, single work criticism
- Choreographing George Balanchine: The Life as Ballet Program, single work criticism
- Speculating about a Spy : Working with ‘Suspicious Sources’ in Deciphering the Life of Ralph Harry Laura Thompson, single work criticism
- Based on the Evidence and My Experience: The Role of Speculative Biography in a Decolonised Reimagining of the Bungalow, Alice Springs 1914–1929, single work criticism
- Bespoke Biography: Writing Fiona Foley Provocateur: An Art Life, single work criticism
- Using Informed Imagination When Writing About Controversial Characters: The Case of Dr Felix Kersten and Himmler, single work criticism
- Speculative Historical Viability: A Grave Undertaking?, single work criticism
- Challenges and Limitations of Speculation in True Crime Biography: A Lawyer’s Lens, single work criticism
- Biographical ‘Facts’ and Speculative Forms: Writing John and Rose Morley Through New Eyes, single work criticism
- The Curious Case of Cornelius Cardew: An Exercise in Reflective Speculation, single work criticism
- Why Not Tell?: Eddie Samuels, the Authentic Self and the Novel as Speculative Autobiography, single work criticism
- Speculative Biography as Dewdrop: Writing Women’s Lives, single work criticism
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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At the Forefront of Practice Research : The Speculative Method
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Text : Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , vol. 26 no. 1 2022;
— Review of Speculative Biography : Experiments, Opportunities and Provocations 2021 anthology criticism 'We expect that leading research in the creative writing discipline will keep us abreast of
exploration and innovation across a broad spectrum of writing practices. This collection of
essays, focused on the contentious Speculative Biography sub-genre, does just that.'(Introduction)
-
At the Forefront of Practice Research : The Speculative Method
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Text : Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , vol. 26 no. 1 2022;
— Review of Speculative Biography : Experiments, Opportunities and Provocations 2021 anthology criticism 'We expect that leading research in the creative writing discipline will keep us abreast of
exploration and innovation across a broad spectrum of writing practices. This collection of
essays, focused on the contentious Speculative Biography sub-genre, does just that.'(Introduction)
