English Biography

Editorial Review:

ENGLISH BIOGRAPHY BY WALDO H. DUNN, M. A. D. PROFESSOR OP THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER, U. S. A. LONDON, PARIS, AND TORONTO J. M. DENT SONS LIMITED NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON CO. F. G. D. PATIENT, STEADFAST, LOYAL COMRADE IN THE QUEST PREFACE IN harmony with the common purpose of the other volumes which belong to this series, I have made an attempt to trace the genesis and evolution of English biography, and to furnish those who may care to devote themselves to a further study of the subject with sufficient materials in the way of references to sources to enable them to make at least a beginning toward the accomplishment of their desire. I believe I am right in saying that this is the first book in the English language devoted to a careful and somewhat exhaustive study of the subject. So far as I know, it is the first of its kind in any language. Beyond brief articles in encyclopaedia's and magazines, reviews of biographies in periodicals, and a few short treatises, the great subject of biography has remained untouched. No one can be more conscious than myself of the limitations of the discussion herewith presented. I feel that I have made only a beginning in a work that is sure to be continued. Biography as an Art Biography as Literature Biography in its Relations to History, Fiction, Psychology, and Medical Science The Use of Letters in Biography all these subjects, and more besides, will some day be adequately treated. They can be only hinted at, or touched upon briefly, in a book of this kind. Yet, again, the whole question of a bibliography of biography remains. The lists herewith given in the appendix are not meant to be complete they but illustrate certain portions of the main text, and are intended to be only suggestive. There is great need of an approximately complete bibliography of the subject which will enumerate and evaluate, for the student and the general reader, the really worth while works. Some one may perform a real service to students by preparing a complete list and a critical discussion of the short lives and memoirs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The preparation of such bibliographies will be the work of years, but I have no doubt that it will some day be accomplished. I have met with much encouragement in the prosecution of this work, and owe a large debt of gratitude to many. The Rev. Thomas Davidson, Nevill Forbes, M. A., Reader in Russian at Oxford University, M. Jules Jusserand, French Ambassador to the United States of America, and Robert S. Rait, M. A., Professor of Scottish History and Literature in the University of Glasgow, have kindly furnished information, and helped me by way of suggestion in forming critical and comparative estimates. Sir Sidney Lee has likewise kindly directed me to useful information, has allowed me to quote from his writings on biography, and has otherwise personally encouraged me. Hugh Walker, LL. D., Professor of English in St. Davids College, Lampeter, was good enough to read a portion of the work in manuscript. My friend and colleague, Walter Edwin Peck, M. A., Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and English Composition in The College of Wooster, has followed the whole work with great interest, and has gone over it all in proof. Mrs. Anna Robeson Burr, of Philadelphia, whose valuable studies in autobiography have rendered my task much easier, has not only allowed me to draw freely upon her work, but has also furnished specific aid and suggestions. Upon none of these, however, should the blame for any of the shortcomings of this book be charged. As it stands, I alone am responsible for the matter which it contains and for the manner in which all has been presented. PREFACE ix It was my great privilege to be associated during the entire period in which I was engaged upon this work with W, Macneile Dixon, Litt. D...

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