Abstract
Historical biographies are a traditional and successful form of writing about history present in both academia and popular culture. As a result, this form has had a great influence on our ideas about the past.
What do contemporary theoretical discussions of historical biographies look like? What can be said about contemporary Czech biographical production? And what concepts can be stimulating for biographical writing? The book first traces the current Czech and international debate under the heading of biography theory. It thus introduces the reader to this field of research through its key themes and texts.
A significant part of it is an empirical study of contemporary biographical production based on research into biographical editions and controversial biographies. From there we will learn about the meanings and expectations associated with the term "biography" in the Czech environment.
Building on the previous sections, the book presents the approach of the 'biographical archive' as a fundamental and irreducible framework for biographical writing.