Cover may vary - this is a stock image

Portraits from LifeModernist Novelists and Autobiography

Format: Hardback

Condition: Standard Secondhand — £1.26
What do the conditions mean?

Our conditions mean the following:

  • New - a brand new book
  • Almost New - appears new but is actually secondhand.
  • Very Good - only minor imperfections such as minor scuffs to edge or cover or a price written in pencil or shop sticker.
  • Standard Secondhand - Clearly been read before, but not too bad. We do not recommend these for gifting. Spines usually creased. Could also include creases or folds to cover, some writing such as in the cover or elsewhere, underlining or highlighting, but might not do. Possibly some stains or marks. Similar in general to books in any secondhand shop or charity shop.
  • Poor Condition - Usually this will have a specific problem such as writing inside, water damage, missing dust jacket, heavy staining, large creases or cuts. These are readable copies but not nice ones. On other websites this condition is called 'Acceptable' or 'Fair' , but we want to be more honest.
£1.26
£1.26
Sale Sold out
Taxes included. Shipping calculated at checkout.

Low stock: 1 left

What happens when novelists write about their own lives directly, in memoirs and autobiographies, rather than in novels? How do they present themselves, and what do their self-portraits reveal? In a series of biographical case studies, Portraits from Life examines how seven canonical Modernist writers - Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, Henry James, Wyndham Lewis, Gertrude Stein, H.G. Wells, and Edith Wharton - depicted themselves in their memoirs and autobiographies during the first half of the twentieth century.

Drawing on a range of life-writing sources in this innovative group portrait, Jerome Boyd Maunsell reconstructs the periods during which these authors worked on their memoirs, often towards the end of their lives, and shows how memoirs and autobiographies are just as artful as novels. The seven portraits in the book also create a rich network of encounters, as many of these writers knew each other, and wrote about each other in their reminiscences.

Portraits from Life investigates the difficulties and possibilities of autobiography - the relation of fact and fiction, biography and autobiography; the ethical issues of dealing with real people; the thin generic lines between novels and autobiographies; and the deceptive workings of memory - and how all these writers dealt with these concerns as they looked back on their lives. An act of portraiture and biography as well as an act of criticism, moving from London to Paris and through two world wars, it also pieces together a fresh and constantly inter-connecting narrative of the Modernist era in England and France.

Genre: Biography & memoir, Literary Figures
Format: Hardback
Published: 2018
Pages: 282
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198789369

Payment method

  • American Express
  • Apple Pay
  • Diners Club
  • Discover
  • Google Pay
  • Maestro
  • Mastercard
  • Shop Pay
  • Union Pay
  • Visa

Our conditions mean the following:

  • New - a brand new book
  • Almost New - appears new but is actually secondhand.
  • Very Good - only minor imperfections such as minor scuffs to edge or cover or a price written in pencil or shop sticker.
  • Standard Secondhand - Clearly been read before, but not too bad. We do not recommend these for gifting. Spines usually creased. Could also include creases or folds to cover, some writing such as in the cover or elsewhere, underlining or highlighting, but might not do. Possibly some stains or marks. Similar in general to books in any secondhand shop or charity shop.
  • Poor Condition - Usually this will have a specific problem such as writing inside, water damage, missing dust jacket, heavy staining, large creases or cuts. These are readable copies but not nice ones. On other websites this condition is called 'Acceptable' or 'Fair' , but we want to be more honest.
  • Free UK shipping over £10.
  • Under £10, shipping is £1.99.
  • Express shipping £2.99.
  • Choose 10 £1 books for £10 including shipping!
  • International shipping available to select countries, proceed to checkout to see prices.

Return books within 14 days if not happy.

View full details

More £1 biographies

All £1 books →