The article tells about what a biography is, for what purposes it is usually made up, what kinds of it exist.
Life on our planet has existed for almost 4 billion years, during which time many biological species have changed on it, from the first primitive bacteria to highly developed organisms. But the most tenacious and able to adapt better than the rest were people. And by the way, the population has always grown at different rates and unevenly, and it has almost doubled over the past 60 years.
All people are different, they have unique character traits, life experience and achievements. And only a few are honored to be inscribed in history or other sources, thanks to which they will be remembered after centuries.
With the development of writing and typography, such a thing as a biography became popular. At the very beginning, such texts were mainly of a religious nature, they described the life of saints, did not differ in accuracy, but gradually everything changed. So what is a biography, why is it needed, what are its varieties? This we will understand.
Definition
If we turn to the encyclopedia, then by its definition, a biography is a description of a person’s life path, which was composed of other people. If he composed it himself, then this is called an autobiography.
A biography is a source of important sociological information, on the basis of which it is possible to determine the role of an individual person in national, historical or some other conditionality.
In simple terms, a biography is a detailed or not very description of a person’s life, where his achievements, merits and other social and social manifestations are given. And usually not everyone gets this. So now we know what a biography is. But what happens and why is it needed?
Kinds
Biographies can be divided into several types.
Scientific - this is where in a work of one kind or another all events are documented in detail, sources, evidence, etc. are given. True, this cannot always be done, especially when it comes to some kind of historical figure that existed several thousand years ago.
An autobiography is compiled by the person himself. This can be either a voluminous literary work, where he wished to tell about his life and merits, or a brief retelling of it when applying for a job or in another situation.
An artistic biography of life differs primarily in the way the material is presented. It is less official, but the life of the hero or heroes of the work is still described as detailed as possible and in accordance with how it really was. This kind of biography can be attributed to the popular one, this technique is often used to increase people's interest in some historical events or other processes.
Meaning
In fact, biographers have several goals. In addition to a tribute to the memory, a biography in which the life of the historical person is described in detail allows you to analyze the events of distant or not very years, to understand why everything happened this way, could it be otherwise, etc. This is especially valuable from a cultural point of view. Of course, such literary or film productions are not made up about all people.
This honor is awarded to ancient rulers, politicians, scientists, naturalists and figures of our time, who also contribute to the development of a particular area of science, culture or public life. For example, filmmakers, actors, famous athletes and others. So now we know what a biography is.
Personal biography
True, there are situations when a biography is not drawn up as a tribute to or for historical or cultural analysis, but as a regular document, which reflects a person’s life path, his professional skills, etc.
A personal biography is needed first of all where people are controlled and strict selection is made according to professional or personal qualities. These are law enforcement bodies, the armed forces, various closed-type scientific institutions or other institutions where it is necessary to evaluate a person in terms of describing his life, actions and qualities. Now we understand what a biography is.