don't believe the hype: biographies

[Alice DuBois <Adubois@NILESLIBRARY.ORG>]

HI, I'm Alice, I'm new here-

I think the bottom line when It comes to biographies is read them for the
interesting tidbits that they may supply, but take them with a huge grain of
salt.  I let this stupid biography about Phil Ochs called "There But for
Fortune" really cloud my opinion of him.  It has really tawdry details about
how he treated his wife and his alcohol issues, neither of which have
*Anything* to do with his songwriting or political activism.

I think the Biographies about Gould that we're speaking of are *really*
guilty of that sort of mean-spirited extrapolating because the people
writing them have a sort of personal agenda to "dis" Gould coupled with the
fact that his personal life was HIGHLY guarded, so it was wide open for
"speculation".  So this is just a recipe for mischievous character
assassination.   But I also think it's sometimes gratifying to learn, as
someone else mentioned, that our heroes were human and had to deal with the
everyday pain of living.  I find a lot of inspiration in finding out that
Anton Chekhov worried a LOT about money and M.C. Escher didn't live off of
his artwork until middle age:  It gives me inspiration to carry on and not
feel so alone in my struggle as an artist.  When I read something
particularly nasty in one of the said Gould biographies, I just totally
question the motivation, but I also cherish them for the interesting details
which aren't clouded by the author's opinion, few that they are. ;]

-Alice