Art Into Life: The Craft of Literary Biography - Hardcover

Part memoir, part detective story, part literary exegesis, part psychological exploration, this comprehensive collection of essays, the last by the late biographer Frederick R. Karl, renders the passion and vision he brought to his lifelong quest for insights into the makings of world literature's masterpieces. While the breadth and depth of his biographical scholarship is unparalleled, Karl's style remains graceful and accessable, free of critical or theoretical jargon. Whether he's writing about Conrad's suicide attempt, Faulkner's drinking bouts, Kafka's maternal bond, or George Elliot's love life, Karl never wavers from his focus on individual experience shaping modern art. In Art Into Life, a major biographer of the twentieth century reveals the secrets of his craft.

Frederick Karl taught at City College of New York, Columbia, and NYU.