Literature Atlas

How Stories Are Told
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Genre

Biographical Novel

The Novel and Its Forms

The biographical novel is a genre of novel that provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life, modifying details, as biographical fiction generally does, to serve the artistic requirements of the novel form. Works in the genre are sometimes labeled semi-biographical novels to signal their varying degree of historical accuracy.

Facts
Notable Example
Robert Graves's I, Claudius (1934) 1
Defining Trait
Biographical novels blend fact and invention, trimming or reimagining details of a real person's life to meet the artistic needs of the novel form. 1
Connections

Form Of Genre

The Novel, Genres
Sources
1. Biographical Novel (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fictional genre, the novel.
  • Notable biographical novels list
    I, Claudius (1934) by Robert Graves
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.