In essence, the art of biography is the art of containing one of the most complex objects in the universe—a human—in a narrative that is both interesting and factually accurate. According to Nasar and Gooch, writing a biography is at once one of the most challenging and most rewarding projects to undertake. “One of the most seductive things about biography is that people are very mysterious,” Nasar explained. “Trying to unravel that mystery, which you can never completely do, is very compelling.”
Nasar, famous for her biography on John Nash, A Beautiful Mind, co-directs the M.A. program in business journalism at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Gooch, the author of a biography of Frank O’Hara , went to Columbia College. On Tuesday, both writers will be discussing Gooch’s much-acclaimed new biography, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor, at Book Culture. Gooch will also be reading excerpts from the book.
Flannery O’Connor is notoriously peculiar and mysterious—she wrote dark Southern Gothic tales and lived on a secluded farm where she raised peacocks. Her short stories are eerily medieval, but also frighteningly astute and complex depictions of the particular time and place in the 20th century in which O’Connor lived. Still, not much is known about her personal life, and Gooch’s biography attempts to fill in the many gaps in this narrative.
When O’Connor’s letters and journals came out nearly 20 years ago, Gooch became seduced by the life of this enigmatic writer. “The letters opened up a picture of this woman and her theology,” he said. He wanted to write a biography, but his project was quickly put on hold by a close friend of O’Connor, who had obtained the first rights to a biography of the writer. But 20 years later, the other would-be biographer passed away without finishing her own biography, and Gooch dove back into his research.
After tracking down traces of O’Connor across the country, Gooch has managed to produce a very fine and well-rounded bit of scholarship and narrative. “I’ve always been interested in the novelistic possibilities of biography,” he said. “People enjoy them like a 19th century novel that follows a person from birth to death. They blend traditional literary possibilities with the facts that we all love.”
Gooch describes the research as awesomely stimulating, But ultimately he believes that “O’Connor was a mystery to O’Connor herself in the end.”
“An Evening with Brad Gooch” will take place Tuesday, March 10 at 7pm at Book Culture (536 W. 112th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam).
CORRECTION: The original article stated that the M.A. program in business journalism is a program of Columbia’s Graduate School of Business. It is a program of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. Spectator regrets the error.
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