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WRITING BIOGRAPHY: How a Biographer Achieves "Luminous Interpretation"
By Barbara Elleman
Marjorie Rawlings, author of The Yearling, once said,
"Unless a biographer has a luminosity of interpretation to bring to his subject, so that the book itself is creative and stimulating and can stand on its own feet as a thing of value, I resent a mere probing into the life and mind of a great artist. It is too much like worms feeding on a corpse."
This quote became a beacon of sorts when I was writing my first book Tomie dePaola, His Art and His Stories and came to mind again while I was working on Virginia Lee Burton: A Life in Art.
As I wended my way through the interviews, research, and writing, Rawlings' words brought focus to my mission: to find the human essentials of each of my subjects and to reach beyond a recitation of facts and cataloging of
works. To show the kind of "luminosity of interpretation" that Rawlings' statement demanded, I searched for intriguing anecdotes, looked for life-changing incidents, ferreted out unknown pieces of information, and sought
to identify the artistic wellsprings of each of my subjects.
A four-prong approach channeled my writing path: background research, interviews and on-site visitations, sojourns to archival resources, and in-depth scrutiny
of the artist's works.
Background research.
For the dePaola book, the many recent articles, profiles, and biographical essays allowed me to gather perspectives from librarians, educators, critics, and the general public. A contemporary writer, his work undergoes continual analysis; criticism is constantly evolving. Sorting through the many viewpoints to find the balance was one of my challenges.
Virginia Lee Burton's work, on the other hand, is complete. The eight books she wrote and illustrated made their initial statement years ago; her last book, Life Story,
was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1962, and she died in 1968. This situation provided its own challenges. While the elapsed time makes her work more open to interpretation, fewer constructive pieces of criticism are
available.
Interviews. I visited Tomie's studio several times, where he opened his files, books, artwork, and family photographs to me. Most importantly, he
provided time to answer my many questions. While I also sought out his editors and colleagues, comments he made about his own work were the most revealing. For the Burton biography, I had to rely on second-hand observations.
Although talks with her sons, editors, old friends, and colleagues were helpful, I knew their remarks were being filtered through decade-old memories.
Archival sources. Many fruitful hours were spent in Tomie dePaola's studio studying his books (now housed at the University of Connecticut) and
manuscripts (early works are at the Kerlan Collection, University of Minnesota). Tomie willingly supplied answers to questions concerning technique, choice of media, and artistic references. Burton's manuscripts and drawings
reside in several libraries and universities across the country and examining them involved travel to California, Oregon, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. There, I was left on my own to gaze in wonder at her original
illustrations, but I could only speculate about the various changes, markings on drawings, and many versions of illustrations I found.
In-depth scrutiny. In both cases, the time spent with the artists' books was highly satisfying. I found, for example, that placing the illustrators'
books in chronological order brought new understanding of their individual growth as artists. And, new insights emerged when I studied the books by theme, artistic innovation, and technique.
Finally, the material I needed was at hand and the writing could begin. Wanting to avoid a "mere probing" into the artist's life and mind, I sought to
provide a cohesive picture that was informative and enlightening. While showcasing each author/artist's work in context of his or her life, my heartfelt thrust in writing each biography was to create a "luminous
interpretation" for the reader.
Barbara Elleman, Distinguished Scholar of Children's Literature Emerita at Marquette University, is former editor at Booklist and founding editor of Book Links; she is the author of Tomie dePaola, His Art
and His Stories (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1999) and Virginia Lee Burton: A Life in Art (Houghton Mifflin, 2002).
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