ABOUT ROLE AND FEATURES OF BIOGRAPHIC GENRE IN MODERN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

The article deals with the reasons for the «capture» of historians by the biographical genre at the present time. The author analyzes the phenomenon of addressing the history of the historical faculty of the Odessa University named after I. I.Mechnikov. The author argues that history is more than science, because it has a scientific component (conceptual apparatus, rigorous selection of facts and their validation during the study), and the literary basis (language, style of writing), and the mythological aspect, related to imagination. The author notes that critical articles on historiography, published in serious scientific publications, once again convinced that it is almost impossible for a historian to stand up to his time, to avoid general enthusiasm for the political trend. After all, everything that hangs today will inevitably be condemned. Whatever the worship of the majority, it will be thrown into the dirt. Knowledge in general and knowledge of history in particular gives the man the illusion that he has the apparatus of truth. The biographer is in a better position, since the center of his attention is a special person. And the more a person, the more its gap with its time, the more it is interesting to the historian of his  independence, in the words of Pushkin. The author illustrates his thoughts on the peculiarities of the work of the biographer by way of a critical analysis of two biographical sketches. A biography like the hero’s myth. Autobiography is the most insidious and treacherous genre, because it more reveals the personality of the author than he himself desires. The author seems to him to be exposing and judging someone, but in fact he reveals himself. The size of the soul matters, except, of course, the mind. In fact, it is extremely important how a person thinks about himself, that he emphasizes in others, what he insists, denies and what is silent. In the last part the author draws attention to the actual lessons of the history of the historians himself and points out that there are no bad sources if there is the ability to work analytically with them.