Invented Lives, Imagined Communities: The Biopic and American National Identity

Review “…a fine addition to the increasing library of studies of the biopic genre.” ― Biography“...a valuable resource for all who are interested in history and film … Highly recommended.” ― CHOICE“A provocative, critically astute study, this collection examines the biopic as a reflexive, refractive modernist film genre. Admirably researched essays provide close, compelling readings of chosen films, while exploring the multilayered matrices of historical fact, biographical and autobiographical literature, popular media representations, and cultural histories―shaping not only the lives and narratives of the performers, artists, and political/historical figures represented but also the practices of the filmmakers as they worked within or on the margins of the Hollywood industry.” ― Cynthia Lucia, Rider University“The volume’s greatest strengths include its range, its variety of ideas on the significance of the biopic, and its research―definitive in several cases―into the relation between historical figures and their cinematic counterparts.” ― James Morrison, author of Passport to Hollywood: Hollywood Films, European Directors Product Description How Hollywood biopics both showcase and modify various notions of what it means to be an American. About the Author William H. Epstein is Professor of English at the University of Arizona. His previous books include Recognizing Biography and Contesting the Subject: Essays in the Postmodern Theory and Practice of Biographical Criticism.R. Barton Palmer is Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature and Director of Film Studies at Clemson University. His previous books include Shot on Location: Postwar American Cinema and the Exploration of Real Place and (with William Robert Bray) Hollywood’s Tennessee: The Williams Films and Postwar America.