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Showing episodes and shows of
Carl Rollyson
Shows
New Books in Biography
Carl Rollyson, "The Making of Sylvia Plath (UP Mississippi, 2024)
Since her death, Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) has become an endless source of fascination for a wide audience ranging from readers of The Bell Jar, her semiautobiographical novel, to her groundbreaking poetry as exemplified by Ariel. Beyond her writing, however, interest in Plath has also been fueled in part by the tragic nature of her death. As a result, a steady stream of biographies of Plath have appeared over the last fifty-five years that mainly focus on her death or contain projections of an array of points of view about the writer. Until now, little sustained attention has been paid...
2025-10-22
55 min
New Books in Popular Culture
Carl Rollyson, "The Making of Sylvia Plath (UP Mississippi, 2024)
Since her death, Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) has become an endless source of fascination for a wide audience ranging from readers of The Bell Jar, her semiautobiographical novel, to her groundbreaking poetry as exemplified by Ariel. Beyond her writing, however, interest in Plath has also been fueled in part by the tragic nature of her death. As a result, a steady stream of biographies of Plath have appeared over the last fifty-five years that mainly focus on her death or contain projections of an array of points of view about the writer. Until now, little sustained attention has been paid...
2025-10-21
55 min
New Books in Women's History
Carl Rollyson, "The Making of Sylvia Plath (UP Mississippi, 2024)
Since her death, Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) has become an endless source of fascination for a wide audience ranging from readers of The Bell Jar, her semiautobiographical novel, to her groundbreaking poetry as exemplified by Ariel. Beyond her writing, however, interest in Plath has also been fueled in part by the tragic nature of her death. As a result, a steady stream of biographies of Plath have appeared over the last fifty-five years that mainly focus on her death or contain projections of an array of points of view about the writer. Until now, little sustained attention has been paid...
2025-10-21
55 min
New Books in Literary Studies
Carl Rollyson, "The Making of Sylvia Plath (UP Mississippi, 2024)
Since her death, Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) has become an endless source of fascination for a wide audience ranging from readers of The Bell Jar, her semiautobiographical novel, to her groundbreaking poetry as exemplified by Ariel. Beyond her writing, however, interest in Plath has also been fueled in part by the tragic nature of her death. As a result, a steady stream of biographies of Plath have appeared over the last fifty-five years that mainly focus on her death or contain projections of an array of points of view about the writer. Until now, little sustained attention has been paid...
2025-10-21
55 min
The History of Literature
691 The Making of Sylvia Plath (with Carl Rollyson) | My Last Book with Cheryl Hopson
Since her death, poet and novelist Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) has been an endless source of fascination for fans of her and her work. But while much attention has been paid to her tumultuous relationship with fellow poet Ted Hughes, we often overlook the influences that formed her, long before she traveled to England and met Hughes. What movies did she watch? Which books did she read? How did media shape her worldview? In this episode, Jacke talks to serial biographer Carl Rollyson about his new book The Making of Sylvia Plath, which takes a fresh approach to understanding Plath...
2025-03-31
1h 01
New Books in Literary Studies
Carl Rollyson, "The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934" (UVA Press, 2020)
As a novelist, short story author, screenwriter, and Nobel laureate, William Faulkner looms large in modern American literature. Yet the very range of his work and the sources for his rich literary worlds often defy easy assessment. In The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934 (University of Virginia Press, 2020), Carl Rollyson uses both an extensive range of archival collections and Faulkner’s wide-ranging literary output to assess the author’s life and the development of his many famous works. Growing up in Mississippi, young William absorbed his family’s tales and the larger history of the re...
2025-01-02
1h 02
New Books in the American South
Carl Rollyson, "The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934" (UVA Press, 2020)
As a novelist, short story author, screenwriter, and Nobel laureate, William Faulkner looms large in modern American literature. Yet the very range of his work and the sources for his rich literary worlds often defy easy assessment. In The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934 (University of Virginia Press, 2020), Carl Rollyson uses both an extensive range of archival collections and Faulkner’s wide-ranging literary output to assess the author’s life and the development of his many famous works. Growing up in Mississippi, young William absorbed his family’s tales and the larger history of the re...
2025-01-02
59 min
New Books in American Studies
Carl Rollyson, "The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934" (UVA Press, 2020)
As a novelist, short story author, screenwriter, and Nobel laureate, William Faulkner looms large in modern American literature. Yet the very range of his work and the sources for his rich literary worlds often defy easy assessment. In The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934 (University of Virginia Press, 2020), Carl Rollyson uses both an extensive range of archival collections and Faulkner’s wide-ranging literary output to assess the author’s life and the development of his many famous works. Growing up in Mississippi, young William absorbed his family’s tales and the larger history of the re...
2025-01-02
1h 02
New Books in Biography
Carl Rollyson, "The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934" (UVA Press, 2020)
As a novelist, short story author, screenwriter, and Nobel laureate, William Faulkner looms large in modern American literature. Yet the very range of his work and the sources for his rich literary worlds often defy easy assessment. In The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934 (University of Virginia Press, 2020), Carl Rollyson uses both an extensive range of archival collections and Faulkner’s wide-ranging literary output to assess the author’s life and the development of his many famous works. Growing up in Mississippi, young William absorbed his family’s tales and the larger history of the re...
2025-01-02
1h 02
The Learning Curve
CUNY’s Carl Rollyson on William Faulkner & Southern Literature
This week on The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy of DFER and U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng interview Carl Rollyson, CUNY professor, and acclaimed biographer of William Faulkner. Prof. Rollyson offers an in-depth exploration of Faulkner’s life, work, and enduring legacy. He discusses Faulkner’s formative years in early 20th-century Mississippi a region still grappling with its post-Civil War identity, and his early literary influences, including mentorship by Phil Stone and encounters with literary greats like Sherwood Anderson. Rollyson delves into Faulkner’s tumultuous personal life, his complex marriage to his wife Estell...
2024-11-20
47 min
Biographers in Conversation
Carl Rollyson: The Life of William Faulkner
In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Gabriella chats with veteran biographer Carl Rollyson about his two-volume biography of William Faulkner, a giant of 20th century literature who won the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes: The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead and The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox. Carl also published William Faulkner Day by Day, which provides a unique insight into the minute of Faulkner’s daily life and relationships. Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: The meaning of The Past Is Never Dead and This Alarming Paradox...
2024-06-26
48 min
New Books in Biography
Carl Rollyson, "The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox, 1935-1962" (U Virginia Press, 2020)
By 1935 William Faulkner was well established as an author of critically praised novels, yet the low volume of his sales forced him to seek work in Hollywood. As Carl Rollyson details in The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox, 1935-1962 (University of Virginia Press, 2020), this led to an itinerant life divided between Mississippi and Hollywood. Rollyson shows how his encounters with the politicized writers and European refugees who populated the film industry helped broaden his outlook, which was reflected in the injection of anti-fascist elements into his scripts and novels. By the end of the Second World War, Fa...
2023-12-25
53 min
New Books in Literary Studies
Carl Rollyson, "The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox, 1935-1962" (U Virginia Press, 2020)
By 1935 William Faulkner was well established as an author of critically praised novels, yet the low volume of his sales forced him to seek work in Hollywood. As Carl Rollyson details in The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox, 1935-1962 (University of Virginia Press, 2020), this led to an itinerant life divided between Mississippi and Hollywood. Rollyson shows how his encounters with the politicized writers and European refugees who populated the film industry helped broaden his outlook, which was reflected in the injection of anti-fascist elements into his scripts and novels. By the end of the Second World War, Fa...
2023-12-25
53 min
New Books in the American South
Carl Rollyson, "The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox, 1935-1962" (U Virginia Press, 2020)
By 1935 William Faulkner was well established as an author of critically praised novels, yet the low volume of his sales forced him to seek work in Hollywood. As Carl Rollyson details in The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox, 1935-1962 (University of Virginia Press, 2020), this led to an itinerant life divided between Mississippi and Hollywood. Rollyson shows how his encounters with the politicized writers and European refugees who populated the film industry helped broaden his outlook, which was reflected in the injection of anti-fascist elements into his scripts and novels. By the end of the Second World War, Fa...
2023-12-25
50 min
A Life in Biography
A Collector’s Item: A Dialogue About Biography
The correspondence of Carl Rollyson and Samuel R. Delany, a latter day version of Oscar’s Wilde’s The Critic as Artist, in the form reminiscent of a Platonic dialogue.
2023-03-25
29 min
The History of Literature
488 William Faulkner (with Carl Rollyson)
Jacke talks to "serial biographer" Carl Rollyson about his new two-volume biography of William Faulkner, The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934 (Volume 1) and The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox, 1935-1962 (Volume 2). CARL ROLLYSON, Professor of Journalism at Baruch College, The City University of New York, has published more than forty books ranging in subject matter from biographies of Marilyn Monroe, Lillian Hellman, Martha Gellhorn, Norman Mailer, Rebecca West, Susan Sontag, and Jill Craigie to studies of American culture, genealogy, children's biography, film, and literary criticism.Additional listening suggestions:
2023-02-20
1h 06
Art of Darkness
The Dark Room: A Man in a Hurry, Faulkner with Carl Rollyson
Prolific and renowned biographer Carl Rollyson joins us in the Dark Room to talk about William Faulkner, the great author's time in Hollywood and more. And listen to the After Dark episode for Patreon subscribers at: patreon.com/artofdarkpod carlrollyson.com twitter.com/crollyson nysun.com/author/carl-rollyson twitter.com/artofdarkpod twitter.com/bradkelly twitter.com/kautzmania Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
2022-03-13
54 min
Ear Read This
“The Last Days of Sylvia Plath”: Carl Rollyson on Biography
S3E48 Ash is once again joined by biographer Carl Rollyson to discuss his biographies of Sylvia Plath, and some of the challenges facing those who write about her. Find out more about Carl's work here: Carl Rollyson - Works Listen to 'A Life in Biography' on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/30NNvRbagc74DpV44Eblip?si=YU1EBtCITvW987sZNNEqbg&dl_branch=1 And check out our Patreon page here: Ear Read This is creating Podcasts | Patreon Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy D...
2021-07-28
28 min
A Life in Biography
More with Tim Christian & Carol Sklenicka about the principles, practices & mechanics of biography
More with Tim Christian & Carol Sklenicka about the principles, practices & mechanics of biography with examples from our work
2021-07-24
58 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 66: The Principles & Practices of Biography: A Talk with Tim Christian & Carol Sklenicka
Episode 66: Talking with Tim Christian (biographer of Mary Hemingway) and Carol Sklenicka (biographers of Raymond Carver and Alice Adams) about the principles and practices of biography.
2021-07-17
55 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 65: Biography and the Hermeneutic Circle
What it means to circle around your subject in a biography and how that circling is hermeneutical. I draw on my biography of Lillian Hellman for examples.
2021-07-10
40 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 64: Janet Malcolm and the Black Art of Biography
My encounters with Janet Malcolm’s assault on biography, beginning in 1994 and continuing through several books of mine in the new millennium.
2021-07-03
45 min
A Life in Biography
A Life in Biography (Trailer)
2021-06-28
00 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 63: Talking with Carol Sklenicka about her biography of Alice Adams
The biographer of Raymond Carver explains what drew her to Alice Adams and the history of the generation that came into its own after World War II
2021-06-27
39 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 62: A Talk with Kai Bird about his new Shakespearean/Faulknerian biography of Jimmy Carter
A talk with Kai Bird about his Shakespearean/Faulknerian biography of Jimmy Carter
2021-06-19
42 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 61: Biography Anne Sebba discussing Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy
A wide-ranging discussion of why Ethel Rosenberg matters, what is new in her story, and why American writers continue to be obsessed with her life.
2021-06-12
46 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 60: The Case for Literary Prurience
I draw on my experience of writing biographies of William Faulkner, Michael Foot, and Amy Lowell, to explain why biographies have to be about the whole person, notwithstanding the charge of literary prurience.
2021-06-05
3h 52
A Life in Biography
Episode 59: Biographology
What you need to know about reading, writing, and reviewing biography.
2021-05-29
40 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 58: The Roth/Bailey Uproar
My view of what has happened to Bailey’s biography of Roth, how reviewers and readers have responded, and why what I’ve seen so far is inadequate.
2021-05-22
4h 47
A Life in Biography
Talking with Gail Crowther about her new book on Plath & Sexton, Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz
What goes into a dual biography, and what a sociologist can bring to the study of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.
2021-05-08
31 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 56: A talk with Ira Nadel about Philip Roth, Leonard Cohen, and authorized/unauthorized bios
A wide-ranging interview about how biography gets done, both authorized and unauthorized, with Nadel’s subjects, Leonard Cohen & Philip Roth, and more.
2021-05-01
42 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 55: Tales Told Out of School, Part 2: 40 Years of Interviewing
What happens during and after interviews, with examples drawn from my biographies of Lillian Hellman, Rebecca West, Susan Sontag, Jill Craigie, and Michael Foot.
2021-04-17
35 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 54, Part 1: Tales Told Out of School: 40 Years of Interviews
What happens during and after interviews with subjects ranging from Walter Matthau to Ellen Burstyn to Richard Wilbur.
2021-04-10
39 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 53: Mike Peros, biographer of Dan Duryea and José Ferrer & how Mike became a biographer
Mike Peros describes how he became a biographer, how he researched his biographies of José Ferrer and Dan Duryea, and much more.
2021-04-03
39 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 52: A Plethora of Plath, or Why So Many Biographies
Through the examples of Marilyn Monroe, Amy Lowell, William Faulkner, and Sylvia Plath, I explain why so many biographies of the same subject are published.
2021-03-27
46 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 51: Talking with Bob Batchelor about his book, biography—how it gets done and so much more.
A conversation with Bob Batchelor about his work from John Updike to Stan Lee and much more about biography and its place in the world and in our imaginations.
2021-03-20
48 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 50: A talk about biography with John Matteson, author of A Worse Place Than Hell
A wide ranging discussion of the choices a biographer makes and how John Matteson put together his group of figures present at the battle of Frederickburg
2021-03-13
46 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 49: A talk with Kathleen Spaltro, Author of The Great Lie: The Creation of Mary Astor
A wide ranging of discussion of a great character actress, active in both silent and sound film, her relationships with Ronald Colman and Bette Davis, and her career as a writer of novels and memoirs.
2021-03-06
31 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 48: A discussion with Sydney Stern about her book, The Brothers Mankiewicz
What it takes to write a biography of the Mankiewicz brothers and other issues biographers encounter.
2021-02-27
32 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 47: Justice to Charmian London, a writer who was much more than Jack London’s wife
A wide ranging discussion of Iris Jamahl Dunkle’s new biography, including reflections on the biographer as villain and how biography can be an act of restitution.
2021-02-20
29 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 46: How I Became A Biographer: A conversation with Richard Bradford
I speak with Richard Bradford about how he became a biographer, the role biography should play in literary study, and why he chose to write about Ernest Hemingway, Patricia Highsmith and others.
2021-02-13
39 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 45: William Faulkner’s Civil War, a talk with Michael Gorra about his new book
All things biographical and how Faulkner, the man and the writer, approached the Civil War.
2021-02-06
39 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 44: The Past Is Never Dead
How does a biographer recreate the past the milieu of a subject’s life. I draw on my own experience in biographies of William Faulkner, Lillian Hellman, Rebecca West, Michael Foot, and others.
2021-01-31
48 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 43: Talking with William Souder about Mad at the World, his new biography of John Steinbeck
William Souder explains his attraction to Steinbeck, what it takes to do a biography, the audience you can expect to reach as a biographer, and much much more.
2021-01-23
38 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 42: Talking Faulkner biography with Larry Wells, author of the memoir, In Faulkner’s Shadow
A wide ranging discussion of Larry Wells’s memories of the Faulkner family, of Faulkner biographers, Joseph Blotner and Carvel Collins, and what it takes to research and write biography, which often feels like a Henry James story.
2021-01-17
39 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 41: Heather Clark on her new Plath Biography.
We talk about how Heather Clark became interested in Plath, how she came to write the biography, how biography is a product of its age, and much more.
2021-01-09
30 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 40: John Bryant on his new multi-volume Melville biography
A wide-ranging discussion of biography, how to work on literary figures Melville’s “black consciousness” and much more.
2021-01-02
43 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 40: Talking with John Bryant about his multi-volume Herman Melville biography.
A wide ranging discussion of biography, of how to manage the events and characters of a writer’s life, the meaning of Melville’s “black consciousness” and other intriguing aspects of this protean writer.
2021-01-02
44 min
A Life in Biography
Part 3 of my interview with Alexis Coe
Slavery, capitalism, what went into the making of Washington’s life and those of his contemporaries—plus Alexis Coe puts THE BIG QUESTION to me.
2020-12-29
15 min
A Life in Biography
Part 2 of my interview with Alexis Coe
More discussion of how to shake up the genre of presidential biography.
2020-12-29
06 min
A Life in Biography
Part 1: Alexis Coe author of You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington
A wide ranging discussion of presidential biography and why Alexis Coe decided on what has been called a “historiographical intervention.”
2020-12-29
09 min
Anominy Questionable Movies
Carl Rollyson
In which eminent biographer CARL ROLLYSON stops by to talk about Norman Mailer, Marilyn Monroe, Susan Sontag, and the art and philosophy of biography. (Warning: contains spoilers and some content may be triggering.)
2020-12-28
1h 27
A Life in Biography
Episode 38: Ten Tips For Enterprising Biographers
My experience over 40 years of contacting sources and how they responded, and how I got them to respond.
2020-12-26
39 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 37: Why Plath: My Rollicking Interview with Emily Van Dyne about her forthcoming book
Much talk about Emily’s book, Loving Sylvia Plath, how students and other readers react to Plath, and the role biography plays in the mixed reactions to her work.
2020-12-19
37 min
A Life in Biography
How it took 30 years to write 2 pages of The Life of William Faulkner
Discussing my experience and Faulkner’s in Hollywood and how all that gets on the page.
2020-12-12
23 min
A Life in Biography
How it took 30 years to write 2 page of The Life of William Faulkner.
Describing my experience and Faulkner’s in Hollywood and how it all gets onto the page.
2020-12-12
23 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 35
Talking with Peter K. Steinberg, co-editor of The Letters of Sylvia Plath.
2020-12-04
31 min
New Books in the American South
Carl Rollyson, "The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox, 1935-1962" (U Virginia Press, 2020)
By 1935 William Faulkner was well established as an author of critically praised novels, yet the low volume of his sales forced him to seek work in Hollywood. As Carl Rollyson details in The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox, 1935-1962 (University of Virginia Press, 2020), this led to an itinerant life divided between Mississippi and Hollywood. Rollyson shows how his encounters with the politicized writers and European refugees who populated the film industry helped broaden his outlook, which was reflected in the injection of anti-fascist elements into his scripts and novels. By the end of the Second World War, Fa...
2020-12-01
50 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 34: Speaking with Celia Stahr about her splendid biography Frida in America
A conversation about Frida Kahlo and her three years in America with a great cast of characters, including Henry Ford, the Rockefeller’s, Georgia O’Keefee, Louis Nevelson and much, much more.
2020-11-28
1h 07
A Life in Biography
Episode 33: How I Became an Outlaw, Part 2: The Case of Michael Foot
Dealing with family and friends.
2020-11-21
48 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 32: My conversation with Jonathan Alter about his new biography of Jimmy Carter.
We discuss the first full-length biography of Jimmy Carter, his achievements and failures, his rise from the bottom third to the top third of U.S. presidents, and much more about what a biography can accomplish.
2020-11-14
3h 02
A Life in Biography
How I became an outlaw biographer
Working on Lillian Hellman, Martha Gellhorn, Norman Mailer, Rebecca West, Susan Sontag, Jill Craigie, Michael Foot, Dana Andrews, Walter Brennan, Amy Lowell, Sylvia Plath, William Faulkner.
2020-11-07
52 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 30: The Biographical Novel: Who Cares?
I discuss novels about Marilyn Monroe, Walt Disney, Martha Gellhorn, H. G. Wells and mull over a universe in which biography and biographical novels can co-exist.
2020-10-31
38 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 29: The Biography Police
An account of the campaigns orchestrated against biographers, using as examples biographies of T. E. Lawrence and Susan Sontag.
2020-10-24
36 min
A Life in Biography
Reading and Writing Biography: A Primer
The sorry state of reviewing biography as reviewers turns in what amounts to book reports, letting down the genre of biography and those who practice it.
2020-10-17
27 min
A Life in Biography
What a biographer knows.
I read and discuss a section from The Life of William Faulkner, pointing out my use of evidence, and concluding that I am my own best evidence.
2020-10-10
51 min
A Life in Biography
What is a definitive biography?
I consider the question in the light of biographies of Sylvia Plath, William Faulkner, Olson Welles, John F. Kennedy, and others.
2020-10-03
48 min
A Life in Biography
The Cruelty of Biography
A wide ranging discussion of the anathemas against biography perpetuated by modern writers, including Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Somerset Maugham, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Anthony Powell.
2020-09-26
26 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 24: Psychologizing Biography
What does Psychologizing biography mean? How I have used it.
2020-09-19
18 min
A Life in Biography
Reviewing Biography: The Case of Sylvia Plath
I read a review of my book, The Last Days of Sylvia Plath, in order to discuss the methodology of biography and of the reviewer.
2020-09-12
20 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 22: The Case Against Biography
What to say about the epistemology of biography and why it is sometimes better to not have been there, but to see it all from afar and yet in closeup, as the past is recreated in the biographer’s imagination.
2020-09-05
15 min
A Life in Biography
Words Often Applied to Biography
Authorized/Unauthorized; Gossipy/Salacious/; Plodding/Workmanlike/Revisionist
2020-08-29
15 min
A Life in Biography
3 Questions You Should Never Ask About Biography
1. Is the subject worthy of a biography. 2. Is the subject too small? 3. Why another biography of?
2020-08-22
14 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 19: Proposing a Biography
Why it is important to do a proposal? Why not just write the book? This podcast tells you why.
2020-08-15
18 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 18: Biography, The Historical Present, and You
When does it make sense to use the present tense in a biography? Examples from the work of Noel Riley Fitch, William Faulkner, and yours truly.
2020-08-08
19 min
A Life in Biography
Marilyn Monroe and the Idea of Biography
Biography is its own form of knowledge, a view that many readers and reviewers of biography are reluctant to acknowledge, or do not even consider.
2020-08-01
23 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 16: My Listeners Respond
Listeners who want to know how to navigate the varied access to sources with different subjects, or how to present a new vision without new sources.
2020-07-25
23 min
A Life in Biography
The Gaps and Bulges of Biography
What to do when not all parts of your biographical subject’s life are equal, when the first part of the life seems the most exciting, for example, or when interest only really builds in the last part of the subject’s life.
2020-07-18
15 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 14: Who Deserves A Biography?
The answer to who deserves a biography is everyone, or anyone. It all depends on the materials you have, if the story moves you, and you know how to tell it.
2020-07-11
07 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 13: Homage to Deirdre Bair and the Purpose of Biography
My tribute to one of the great biographers of our time and why her work matters, and why biography matters.
2020-07-04
15 min
A Life in Biography
How I Became a Biographer
A quick explanation of how it all started with Marilyn Monroe.
2020-06-27
14 min
A Life in Biography
Fair Use Biography: Forget about the Don’ts in Most Cases. Just go ahead.
My account for forty years of dealing with fair use, biographical subjects, and publishers.
2020-06-21
31 min
A Life in Biography
The Whys and Wherefores of Documentary Biography
How dating all the days of a life provide a different way of approaching what is left out in other biographies.
2020-06-14
09 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 9: How To Begin a Biography: The Case of William Faulkner
I look at how biographers have begun their biographies and the merits of different kinds of openings and why biography has been called factitious.
2020-06-06
21 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 8: How to End a Biography, The Case of Sylvia Plath
I read from the last paragraphs of Plath biographies, commenting on them, and explain my own choices in writing American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath and The Last Days of Sylvia Plath.
2020-05-30
22 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 7: Prefaces to Biography
Who is the biographer? And why does it matter?
2020-05-24
27 min
A Life in Biography
Building a Better Biography: How to Capture the Whole Man
I give a sense of the interplay between Faulkner the man, his fiction, and his film writing.
2020-05-16
24 min
A Life in Biography
Sylvia Plath, Meet Rebecca West
I explore why it is that Sylvia Plath never seemed to be aware of Rebecca West, a world class writer, who still has so much to say to the readers of Plath and of modern literature.
2020-05-10
07 min
New Books in the American South
Carl Rollyson, "The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934" (UVA Press, 2020)
As a novelist, short story author, screenwriter, and Nobel laureate, William Faulkner looms large in modern American literature. Yet the very range of his work and the sources for his rich literary worlds often defy easy assessment. In The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934 (University of Virginia Press, 2020), Carl Rollyson uses both an extensive range of archival collections and Faulkner’s wide-ranging literary output to assess the author’s life and the development of his many famous works. Growing up in Mississippi, young William absorbed his family’s tales and the larger history of the re...
2020-05-04
59 min
A Life in Biography
A Tale of Two Biographies: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath and The Life of William Faulkner
Why I wrote these two books and what in the world Plath and Faulkner have to do with the world around us.
2020-05-02
48 min
A Life in Biography
Episode 3: Faulkner Preludes
How I began my work on Faulkner; what I mean by an intertextual biography; why Joan Crawford matters in a Faulkner biography; Faulkner as diplomat; what Faulkner to read first.
2020-04-25
16 min
A Life in Biography
A Life in Biography: Episode 2: Why Care About William Faulkner?
A two-minute podcast. Call it “The Elevator Pitch.”
2020-04-17
19 min
A Life in Biography
The Last Days of Sylvia Plath
In about twelve minutes I talk about what it was like in the last days of Sylvia Plath, how people have reacted to her death, and why I think it wasn’t all just sad.
2020-04-12
12 min
Better Known
Carl Rollyson
Carl Rollyson discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. You can read more about Carl and his books at www.carlrollyson.com. Harriet Hume by Rebecca West https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1982/08/12/staying-the-course/ The Searching Wind by Lillian Hellmann https://www.timeout.com/london/film/the-searching-wind Fallen Angel http://www.noiroftheweek.com/2005/07/fallen-angel-1945-72005.html Clash by Night https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash_by_Night The Mansion by William Faulkner https://brickmag.com/the-mansion-by-william-faulkner/ Plutarch award for biography https://biographersinternational.org...
2019-08-04
27 min
Listen to New Releases of Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians
Reading Susan Sontag Audiobook by Carl Rollyson
Please visit https://thebookvoice.com to download full audiobooks of your choice for free. Title: Reading Susan Sontag Subtitle: A Critical Introduction to Her Work Author: Carl Rollyson Narrator: Paul Bloede Format: Unabridged Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins Language: English Release date: 04-04-16 Publisher: Carl Rollyson Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians Publisher's Summary: The first book to survey the broad range of Ms. Sontag's work, including full discussions of her fiction. One can ask for no better guidebook.
2016-04-04
6h 21
Discover the Best Sellers Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians
Female Icons Audiobook by Carl Rollyson
Please visit https://thebookvoice.com to download full audiobooks of your choice for free. Title: Female Icons Subtitle: Marilyn Monroe to Susan Sontag Author: Carl Rollyson Narrator: Diane Lehman Format: Unabridged Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins Language: English Release date: 12-11-15 Publisher: Carl Rollyson Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians Publisher's Summary: This volume represents more than 25 years of writing about female icons and biography. Rollyson provides the bits and pieces that resulted not only in his biography of Marilyn Monroe but also in much of the work he has subsequently done on Lillian Hellman, Martha Gellhorn, Rebecca West, Susan...
2015-12-11
8h 44
Listen to New Releases of Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians
Lillian Hellman Audiobook by Carl Rollyson
Please visit https://thebookvoice.com to download full audiobooks of your choice for free. Title: Lillian Hellman Subtitle: Her Life and Legend Author: Carl Rollyson Narrator: Colleen Patrick Format: Unabridged Length: 18 hrs and 21 mins Language: English Release date: 08-31-15 Publisher: Carl Rollyson Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 2 votes Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians Publisher's Summary: Through diaries, letters, government files, and interviews, Carl Rollyson draws a vital and vibrant portrait of the life, the work, and the legend of Lillian Hellman: America's most controversial radical playwright. Rollyson explores the sources and backgrounds of her best-selling memoirs, the development of...
2015-08-31
6h 21
Get Best Sellers Audiobooks in Travel & Adventure, Adventure & Exploration
Hollywood Enigma Audiobook by Carl Rollyson
Please visit https://fashabooks.com/aff/fashabooks/1639 to download full audiobooks of your choice for free. Title: Hollywood Enigma Subtitle: Dana Andrews, Hollywood Legends Author: Carl Rollyson Narrator: John Stamper Format: Unabridged Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins Language: English Release date: 11-26-14 Publisher: Carl Rollyson Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 6 votes Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians Publisher's Summary: Dana Andrews (1909-1992) worked with distinguished directors such as John Ford, Lewis Milestone, Otto Preminger, Fritz Lang, William Wyler, William A. Wellman, Mervyn Le Roy, Jean Renoir, and Elia Kazan. He played romantic leads alongside the great beauties of the modern screen...
2014-11-26
04 min
Download Popular Titles Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Celebrities
Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress, Revised and Updated Audiobook by Carl Rollyson
Please visit https://thebookvoice.com to download full audiobooks of your choice for free. Title: Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress, Revised and Updated Author: Carl Rollyson Narrator: John Stamper Format: Unabridged Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins Language: English Release date: 10-03-14 Publisher: Carl Rollyson Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 7 votes Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Celebrities Publisher's Summary: In American popular culture, Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) has evolved in stature from movie superstar to American icon. Monroe's own understanding of her place in the American imagination and her effort to perfect her talent as an actress are explored with great sensitivity in...
2014-10-03
11h 34
Download the Popular Authors Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians
American Isis Audiobook by Carl Rollyson
Please visit https://thebookvoice.com to download full audiobooks of your choice for free. Title: American Isis Subtitle: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath Author: Carl Rollyson Narrator: George Newbern Format: Unabridged Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins Language: English Release date: 02-25-13 Publisher: Tantor Audio Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 20 votes Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians Publisher's Summary: The life and work of Sylvia Plath has taken on the proportions of myth. Educated at Smith, she had an epically conflict-filled relationship with her mother, Aurelia. She then married the poet Ted Hughes and plunged into the Sturm und Drang...
2013-02-25
10h 15