Question for biographers

Barbara R. · Apr 30, 2010

I'm writing a novel in which one of the characters is a biographer who's contracted to write a bio of a great American writer, recently deceased. In in order to do so, he needs the good will and cooperation of the writer's widow, who is also the literary executor. But the widow wants certain things from the biographer, and my question for you regards the ethics of the situation. She wants him to share information he's gathered about her husband--specifically, affairs he may have had, along with the sources of this information. She also wants to know whom he's interviewed.

It feels to me as if he should have some reservations about telling her on the grounds of confidentiality, but I'm not sure that makes sense, since these stories may eventually appear in his book. What do you think? Does the biographer have any reason not to answer those questions?

Thanks!

Empress_Isis · May 8, 2010

Tricky. My concern if this happened in real life wouldn't so much be the confidentiality thing, because as you've said their stories will appear in the book anyway. If someone I'm interviewing asks me if I've spoken to so and so, I'll be honest with them. It can often help you out if they know you've spoken to other high-profile people, or old friends of theirs. The people who knew the subject, especially family members, will normally have a good idea of who you'll be interviewing anyway, because they knew his / her circle of friends.

What is sounds like, though, is that the widow will have too much control over the book - that's what my number one concern would be. How far will her control go? If she knows the biographer has interviewed a certain person, will she then demand that the person's point of view not be included in the book? Or will she want to include her own information to discredit them? That's what I would be most worried about. At the end of the day, the biographer should have full control over what goes in the book and what doesn't. It's their book, not hers!

Barbara R. · May 19, 2010

Thanks, Empress. You raise a good point, and I will have my biographer worry about the issue of control. The widow does indeed have a lot of power in the relationship, since she controls his entire estate, including ms. drafts, correspondence, etc., and she's not shy about wielding it; nor is she fond of biographers as a class. Have you ever run into a certain hostility on the part of fiction writers to biographers? In doing my research I discovered a long tradition of it, primarily from writers who object to the tethering of their work to the events of their lives.

Empress_Isis · Jun 1, 2010

I haven't, but then I don't write about writers!

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