From: owner-sheryl-crew-digest@smoe.org (sheryl-crew-digest) To: sheryl-crew-digest@smoe.org Subject: sheryl-crew-digest V5 #208 Reply-To: sheryl-crew@smoe.org Sender: owner-sheryl-crew-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-sheryl-crew-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk sheryl-crew-digest Friday, October 25 2002 Volume 05 : Number 208 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [sheryl-crew] Unauthorized Biography ["John D. Wilkinson, III" Subject: Re: [sheryl-crew] Unauthorized Biography My preference would be for biography that included her cooperation, but that might be unlikely. The results of her control of her own musical productions have been fantastic, but I think that might not make for an interesting biography. Certainly the book would have taken a far different tack from the one it did. I don't really buy Buskin's contention that not having the subject's input makes for a better, or at least more impartial, biography. It just tilts the perspective away from that individual's point of view, which makes it (to me) less interesting. An autobiography from Sheryl would be extremely interesting. The "Rashomon" effect is familiar ground for any student of history or biography, and it is the author's job to balance the various sources and present a picture that is as accurate as possible. If one is writing an unauthorized biography, it's a given that the subject's point of view will be missing, and mentioning it in the book just seems to be a shallow device to make the book seem to be more than it really is. I am also not a big fan of his writing style, though that might be an issue with the editing of the book. The best writing style for a non-fiction book is transparent, yet I found myself frequently noticing sentence structure (typically when it became too complex), and paragraph content. On the positive side, he did an excellent job of researching his subject. He talked to all of the important individuals (outside of the ones who were off limits), and abstracted their points of view well. He seemed to have a good grasp of the situations. His picture of Sheryl, from the outside, seems to be accurate. I should mention that I this is the only "entertainment industry" biography that I have read, and my expectations may have been a bit high. In biographies, I prefer historical figures, though I read more fiction than anything else. John ------------------------------ End of sheryl-crew-digest V5 #208 *********************************