How to Save Biographical Literature

According to a British research， “The sale of biography in Britain was 7.2 million in 2006， whereas that decreased to 2.7 million in 2012， just accounting to 0.58% in the overall sale of books. Even if biographies about artists and famous people in the field of history， politics and military are popular， the overall sale still decreased to 0.64 million in 2012 from 2.1 million in 2005”（Vuillermin Daniel ）. Facing such a challenging situation in contemporary society， biographical literature， as an original form of literature， must make some changes. Other research just focused on the reasons， yet by way of analyzing possible causes， this paper aims to give some practical suggestions to improve this situation.

Naturally，there are many reasons leading to such an embarrassing situation. In the first place， homogenization is surprisingly prevailing. Generally homogenization is viewed negatively as it leads to the “reduction in cultural diversity” （Chris Baker 17）. Most of biographies are in chronical order， starting from ones birthplace， experiencing the sought of knowledge， the pursuit of career and family， until his due time. Undoubtedly， such a form may make readers get bored.

Analyzing the reason above， it is clear that biographical literature should make some creative ways to maintain its attractiveness. First， the writer should choose a new perspective to account the biographers life. For one thing， the writer can combine biographical literature with his own travel notes. The Way to Rainy Mountain written by N. Scott Momaday is featured in weaving an individuals life with the story of a people. Momadays journey to Rainy mountain not only tells the story of his grandmother， but also explores the history of his Kiowa ancestors and thus of his own racial and cultural heritage. So， it is worth trying for the writer to start a journey to visit some related places and combine the biographers experience with the writers real feelings. For another， the writer can pay more attention to the biographers prominent ability. That is to say， if a biographer is a scholar， the writer can render more information about his critical thinking.With reading such books， readers will get a different experience.

Second， the writer can rearrange the structure. Just take the writer Alexander Masters Stuart as an example. His biographical work A Life Backwards published in 2005 chooses another less travelled path. He adopts inverted pyramid style， namely， from his death to birth， which helps him establish a good reputation and makes this book a best-selling. Just like a book review observes that “I feel so strongly about this strange， funny， sad book that I hardly know where to begin. It is the first book written in reverse， by a fastidious-sounding” （Alexander Masters 3）， such a reverse writing skill does earn a good reflection. In addition to the inverted pyramid style， there are many other skills to account such as narration interspersed with flashbacks or narration with two accounting lines developing simultaneously.

Besides the creative rearrangement suggested in the former paragraphs， the combination between biographical literature and technology is also possible. “Technology can be viewed as an activity that forms or changes culture” （Borgmann， Albert）. As technology grows up， biographical literature， a form of culture， nearly dies out.

Actually， more and more people prefer to surf the Internet or watch films rather than read books. For one thing， people become increasingly impatient.They are so anxious to get quick success， or in other words， the concept of utilitarianism has been rooted in their minds. So， such kind of mentality will cause people to make some choices， such as choosing to browse not to read.For another， such replacements as Wikipedia and film cater for peoples purpose， which offer people some direct ways to get quick information. “Wikipedia， the well-known example of wiki applications and the largest online encyclopedia， has been attracting millions of users to contribute over 21 million articles in more than 280 languages.”Thus， it is gainful to introduce more of the book in film or Wikipedia， igniting the eagerness to purchase.

These suggestions in this paper may be not overall or optimal， but they will actually offer a possible direction for people to rise and act.

References：

[1]Brian J.Lucas Adam D.Gallinsky.Is Utilitarianism Risky？ How the Same Antecedents and Mechanism Produce both Utilitarian and Risky Choices.Perspectives on Psychological Science 10（2015）.

[2]Xu Qiong.Biographical Literature from the Perspective of Modern Popular Culture.Journal of Ningbo University（Liberal Arts Edition）27.4（2014）.

[3]Sesia J.Zhao.Investigating the determinants of contribution value in Wikipedia.International Journal of Information Management 33（2013）.

作者簡介：付琳納（1994-），女，滿族，哈爾濱工程大學外語系英語專業2013級學生，主要從事英語語言文學研究。