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...

“You see, I have never felt the need to invent a world beyond this world, for this world has always seemed large and beautiful enough for me.” This book combines a biography, a historical novel, a Bildungsroman and a scientific essay – all under one cover.  It is the story of a woman, and a scientist, a daughter, a lover, a friend, an explorer and a philosopher, a lady and a heathen…  One can go on and on speaking about Alma Whittaker as throughout this very massive (but worthwhile!) novel she tries on so many different roles that by the end the answer to the question: “Who was she?” would be very much confused. Still, one thing that is truly important that this character has a mind great enough to be compared to the greatest scientists of the period, including   Charles Darwin &nbsp. But before Alma gets to the point where her and Darwin’s name can appear in one sentence, she lives a life, a long and interesting time journey which Gilbert proudly presents to the...