In one of the best accounts to have emerged recently of the history of biography, Hermione Lee’s Biography: A Very Short Introduction, the opening chapter set out ten rules for writing in this sometimes controversial genre. Among these principles are the requirements for truth, comprehensiveness, accuracy of citation, and objectivity. Lee’s seventh rule is “Biography is a form of history”. Astutely observing that “There is no such thing as a life lived in isolation,” she supported her view by quoting Virginia Woolf’s claim that in biography, the subject is the fish and its milieu is the stream. Lee suggested that the duty of the biographer should be “to the stream as well as to the fish”.

中文翻译：

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音乐学舞台上的音乐传记

在最近出现的传记史上最好的记述之一，赫敏·李的传记：非常简短的介绍，开头一章列出了在这种有时会引起争议的体裁中写作的十条规则。其中包括对真实性、全面性、引用准确性和客观性的要求。李的第七条规则是“传记是一种历史形式”。敏锐地观察到“没有孤立的生活”，她通过引用弗吉尼亚伍尔夫的说法来支持她的观点，即在传记中，主题是鱼，环境是溪流。李建议传记作者的职责应该是“对溪流和对鱼”。