How Not to Fall in Love With the Subject of Your Biography

• In Event: Methodological Issues in Biographical Research

Abstract

This research raises the question that all biographer’s face—how close can an author be to a subject? What happens when the researcher becomes so enthralled with her subject, that it begins to cloud the research---and then the researcher and subject take on many qualities of people in love? In this self-reflective essay, a doctoral student, Laurel and her major professor, Clara, (pseudonyms) describe the process of teaching and learning to write biographies. Both Clara and Laurel struggle with the process of writing biographies, as they have come to learn that they both “fall in love” with their subjects.

Authors

• Lauren Yarnell Bradshaw, City Schools of Decatur

• Chara H. Bohan, Georgia State University