What are the Meanings of Biography?

Biography is the story about the history of a person’s life. The word biography is of Greek origin “bios” which means “life” and “graphein ” which expresses “writing”, meaning “write life”.

The biography is a literary genre of the seventeenth century, narrated in the third person and explains in a brief summary, the life of a person, usually, is a public and famous person, in which another person, either a journalist or another profession, writes the life of the individual through the collection of data and, if possible, through interviews directly with the biographer or his family or friends.

The biography covers birth, family, childhood, how was his adolescence, studies, profession, relevant works, characteristics of his personality, sometimes a brief summary of the time in which he lives or lived, his adult life, his legacy, among others points that the writer considers important or interesting to capture. In the case of the person being deceased, the reason for his death is informed, in which place he was watched, people who attended, among other matters related to the subject. Otherwise, that is, if the individual is alive, the same is written until today or as far as the biographer considers pertinent.

However, there are different subgenres of biography such as: authorized biography is considered of that biography that is subject to the author’s review in order to approve all the exposed of him and his life and, unauthorized biography is that biography that has been Written without the desire or approval of the biography, unauthorized biographies are part of the journalistic work when it informs about the life of a public person, whether in the political, economic or social field.

Also, there are currently several films in which they represent the biography or life of a public person, such as: the film that represents the life of a blind singer since the age of 7, known as Ray Charles, in addition to being a saxophonist and soul, R&B and jazz pianist; the film Yves Saint Laurent that narrates the life of the French designer who manages to be consecrated as a man of great talent in his 21 years and, of that genre there are many films.

Biography and autobiography

Autobiography is the story of a person’s life written by herself. The autobiography is written in the first person and the autobiographer is the author and protagonist of his work. In turn, as indicated above, the biography is the narration of the life of a person written by a third person, that is, not properly by the biography, for example: the book “Steve Jobs” written by the author Walter Isaacson.

Biography and memories

Memories are the narration of a person’s life in a given period and, these can be written by the same person or by a third person close to the character. Instead, the biographies drafted lifetime of the biografiado and are always written by third parties.