Beyond the Letters

Biographies are generally a non-fiction genre, for even though they have some place for imagination and emotionality within them, they are mostly a collection of facts presented in an attractive way. But many writers, especially modern ones, try to reconsider this quite old genre and give a new life to it. Here I will tell you about some novels that depict images of famous people, and whose main aim is not to tell the story of someone’s life but to let the reader see these personalities through the author’s eyes. 1. Miss Charity by Marie-Aude Muriel Loosely based on the life of Beatrix Potter this little comedy however managed to create a very credible image of the acclaimed children author. Beatrix Potter was a talented writer with her own unique vision of the world and her own ideas about woman’s position in society. Living in highly conventional Victorian society, she dared to state that any woman could be more than just a wife or a housekeeper. The book is written in th...

"Madame Bovary, c'est moi" (Gustave Flaubert) Very often to understand a work of literature, a real work of literature I mean, it is necessary to know the background. Often the reasons that caused the author to write his book can become a key to its understanding. Often the key is the episodes of the author's biography or his beliefs. Here the key is Flaubert himself. Before I begin speaking about the novel itself I'd like to say a few words about Flaubert's concept of "ivory tower" . Flaubert liked to say that a real writer, metaphorically speaking, should lock himself in an ivory tower, which will separate him from the vulgar and trivial world, only then will he be able to produce a real work of art. What does this mean? Ivory was always considered to be a noble material, as it is very rare and expensive and only chosen ones can afford to have things made of it. Ivory tower symbolizes the nobility of writer, his moral superiority over oth...