Lover of Light Among Luminaries Dilip Kumar Roy

Author(s): Amruta Paresh Patel
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 19

A LOVER OF LIGHT AMONG LUMINARIES : Dilip Kumar Roy however unpalatable, and does not conceal his emotions. He has, consequently, succeeded in giving the readers a strong sense of Johnson's physical presence, and a correct idea of his living relationship with him. Though Boswell did not spend much time in Johnson's company, he has sustained his narrative anecdotes collected from friends and from Johnson's reminiscences and correspondence. Close acquaintance with the subject enabled Boswell to create his work which made both the author the subject immortal. It established the norms of biography as a literary form. Yet Boswell's love of Johnson is not acceptable to Victorian notion of objectivity. According to it such closeness of relationship reduces the authenticity of the account. Victorians disapproved commemorative biography attempted particularly by a relative of its subject as in John Gibson Lockhart's biography of his father-in-law, Sir Walter Scott. The tendency to avoid panegyric is becoming ever stronger in modern times. The readers now do not demand idealised biography. They want a truthful account, 'the life's tangled skein. good and ill together'. Walt Whitman, for instance, asked Horace Traubel :
"Some day you will be writing about me:be sure to write about me honest:whatever you do do not prettify me:include all the hells and damns... I have hated so much of the biography in literature because it is so untrue:look at our national figures how they are spoiled by liars: by the people who think they can improve on God Almighty's work-who put on an extra touch here, there, here again, there again, until the real man is no
longer recognisable."? And, biography, finally, parts company with history, morality and mere psychological analysis or even objective research and assumes the form of art when the biographer, through mastery of the material gives a complete and accurate synthesis of all the facts about the private as well as public life:friendships, conversation, dress, habits, tastes, food etc. Such biographer makes a selection-not merely a collection-of significant and relevant details and possesses a lively narrative style. He forms a sympathetic identification with the subject and presents a perspective, an interpretation of character. He provides a sensitive evaluation of the subject's achievement. In order to do so, a modern
"...biographer chooses a subject, 'ses biographical models, does archival research, conducts interviews, interprets evidence. establishes chronology, organizes material into a meaningful pattern and illuminates an author's work through a discussion of his life". 8