Literary Biography, Literary Studies, and Theory

This chapter is based on the premise that literary biography is indulged within academia as a tolerable supplement to criticism and Theory without being granted a significant role in pedagogy or research. It follows the history of academic criticism through the twentieth century, examining some of the more influential theories and texts, especially those that have set the agenda for and changed the direction of literary studies. While few of these engage directly with literary biography, it is evident that they have had a collective insidious effect on the status of biography as a branch of criticism, one that has resulted in its marginalization.