Biographies, Memoirs, and Cleopatra

Last month we held our first Community Book Chat: You’ve Got to Read This! and the topic of discussion was biographies and memoirs. Biographies and memoirs is such a huge topic, with so many different types of people writing and being written about, that there’s really something for everyone. Some people enjoy biographies because of their historical aspect, too. For someone like me, who has trouble reading history, I can “accidentally” learn history while being drawn into the fascinating life of an historical figure. Biographies can also help you see life from someone else’s point of view.

There are a lot of famous authors out there who’ve written multiple biographies, and some of them have won Pulitzer Prizes for their work. These writers include Ron Chernow, David McCullough, Jon Meacham, and Stacy Schiff. The first three biographers tend to focus on men of historical and political significance: figures such as George Washington, John Adams, and Andrew Jackson. When we look at memoir writers, however, the types of stories being told become more varied and diverse.

And did you know there's a difference between memoirs and autobiographies? According to the Stanford Daily, autobiographies cover the whole life of a famous person, while memoirs can be about anybody. Also, while an autobiography covers someone's entire life, a memoir focuses on a certain time or theme in the writer’s life. Another great thing about memoirs and autobiographies is that you can usually find an audio copy narrated by the author! If you haven’t tried an audio memoir or autobiography yet, I strongly recommend it. Hearing the writer’s voice adds an extra special element to the narration. For some ideas on which ones to listen to, check out my coworker’s blog post entitled Celebrity Story Time.

Now I’ll share with you what my favorite biography is: Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff. I picked it up because I’d heard that Schiff was a great writer, and as someone who doesn’t usually read nonfiction I need great writing to pull me in. I also already knew a little bit about Cleopatra from studying ancient Egyptian art. Or at least, I thought I knew a little bit about her. And that’s what I loved so much about Schiff’s book. It takes all the preconceived notions about Cleopatra and sets the story straight. She wades through the “facts” told by Cleopatra’s enemies after her death, and instead uses primary sources to draw conclusions as to what the Egyptian Queen was really like.

Preconceived Notion #1: Cleopatra was a great beauty. Not true. It turns out that she inherited her father’s Ptolemaic nose. What people were repeatedly impressed by were her voice and her style of oration.

Preconceived Notion #2: Cleopatra was a seductress. Wrong again. Because Caesar’s supporters didn’t understand why he liked Cleopatra, they told stories about her being a temptress. However, when they first met, Cleopatra was young and inexperienced. Caesar, on the other hand, was much older and a well-known ladies’ man. It’s easy to guess who made the first move in their relationship.

Schiff’s book holds countless amazing facts, not just about the people but also about the places. Did you know that Alexandria was considered the Paris of the ancient world? Or that Ancient Egypt permitted women to own property and file for divorces? I could talk forever about all the things I learned about from this book, but it would really be better if you read it yourself.  Or if Cleopatra and Ancient Egypt just aren't your thing, you could try some of these instead.