The main purpose of this essay is to discuss the life stories of three women taking into account a selection of literature on the field of biography. The portrayed women lived in different countries, and also had dissimilar social and cultural backgrounds. The purpose here is not to present a comparison between their personal choices or preferences, nor between their relation with art or politics; nor their impact in the world scenario. The purpose is to discuss their biographies as representative of their time and context bearing in mind that “lives are biographical properties. They belong not just to persons, but also to larger social collectivities, including societies, corporations, and, for some, the world system” (Denzin, p. 29). Although the present discussion takes into account a variety of sources, the central texts chosen to reveal the three life stories are Benazir Bhutto’s obituary (2008), excerpts of her memoir and her autobiography (Bhutto, 1989); and the biographies of Simone de Beauvoir (Appignanesi, 2005) and Evelyn Dunbar (Clarke, 2006). I have decided to refer to them by their first name here with the covert intention to highlight their gender, their female distinctiveness, which can be shadowed by the patriarchal tradition of surnames.
Although these women lived in dissimilar contexts, their lives were equally marked by their differentiation from the dominant role played by women in their time and culture. Evelyn, Simone and more recently Benazir were considered pioneers in their own areas. Evelyn was “one of the few women to become an official war artist in Britain in the Second World War” (WASL, 1989, p.20), while Simone’s name is a reference as an icon of early feminism (Grimwood, 2008), and Benazir was the first woman prime minister of a Muslim country (Rehmat, 2007). Even though they had the ability to break new grounds as a common characteristic, their journeys through life and their professional and personal choices were remarkably different. When I state that these women were pioneer I have no intention to regard them as heroines but as ordinary individuals that in some aspect did something extraordinary in a patriarchal world: they put their own signature in history.
The major premise that drives this discussion is that “no self or personal-experience story is ever an individual production. It derives from larger group, cultural, ideological, and historical contexts” (Denzin, p.73). In other words, Evelyn’s, Simone’s and Benazir’s trajectories in life, and consequent biographies, were a result of the convolution of factors which were inherent to their sociological location and situation. Furthermore, “given their constructed nature and their dependence upon the cultural conventions and language usage, life narratives obviously reflect the prevailing theories about “possible lives” that are part of one’s culture. Indeed, one important way of characterizing a culture is by the narrative models it makes available for describing the course of a life” (Bruner, 2004 p. 694).
The three life stories are equally important to the present discussion, however, the volume of published work about them differs enormously, difference which is reflected in the organisation of the essay. Due to the richness of published material about Simone, her biography is driven story line for the whole debate, enriched with glimpses of Evelyn’s and Benazir’s. The structure of the essay encompasses some parallel between the three women, such as their relation to their parents, especially with father, religion issues, education, marriage, and a relation to a strong male presence in their life. In a following section the autobiographies of Simone and Benazir are briefly discussed, as well their obituaries.
To be continued
Evelyn, Simone and Benazir: singular women, unique biographies [the complete series]:
Biography in three genres: an introduction
Evelyn, Simone and Benazir: Singular women, distinctive biographies
- In the name of the father
- Faith and disbelief
- Education
- Marriage: three distinctive choices
- Before a strong woman there was a stronger man
Is it a hindsight[ful] biography? Looking at obituaries and other sources
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