Lyndall Gordon’s celebrated literary biographies reflect her search for both the ordinary and the extraordinary in people’s lives. Gordon has observed that only the vainest of biographers could overlook the fact that their discipline, and the prying into private affairs it demands, is morally indefensible. Fortunately this knowledge has not prevented her from becoming one of the most accomplished practitioners of the craft. Amongst those who Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Brontë and TS Eliot. Her most recent book, Vindication (2005), is a thoughtful account of the life of the pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Gordon has also explored her own experience in her memoir Shared Lives (2002), which tells the story of a group of girls growing up in South Africa in the 50s. As a writer, Gordon is noted for her ability to enter the lives of her subjects. She has been much praised for the gracefulness and clarity of her writing as well as her empathy for her subjects.

 

 

Also appears in:

Changed Lives

Thu 16 Mar, 11am

Embassy Theatre

Fri 17 Mar, 1pm

Pataka Museum, Porirua

 

Concession Pass to 15 Writers Upfront sessions of your choice: $150 [FR $140]

 

18 Mar, 3:45pm