"Tell-all" redirects here. For the novel, see Tell-All.
"Kiss-and-tell" redirects here. For other uses, see Kiss and Tell.
An unauthorized biography sometimes called a kiss-and-tell, or a tell-all, is a biography written without the subject's permission or input.[1] The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject's lifetime or shortly after their death; as such, it is not applied to biographies of historical figures written long after their deaths.[2]
1882 edition of Domestic Manners and Private Life of Sir Walter Scott (1834) by James Hogg, an unauthorized biography
Unauthorized biographies may be considered more objective but less reliable than other biographies, because they are not subject to the subject's (subjective) approval (and therefore may contain accurate information that the subject would not have authorized), but are also not privy to information or corrections known only to the subject or the subject's close friends and family.[3]
Legalityedit
The subjects of unauthorized biographies are almost always public figures.[4] Rarely do public figures succeed in preventing the release of unauthorized biographies.[5] Unauthorized biographies of people who are not deemed public figures may be considered violations of the right to privacy and subject to legal action.[6] As Ted Schwarz (1992) writes:
Interesting people totally unknown to the general public are usually considered private individuals, even when married to someone famous. Writing about them without their permission may be considered invasion of privacy, a situation that seldom arises with politicians, entertainers, and others who are obvious public figures.[4]
Speaking of U.S. courts, Lloyd Rich (2002) writes:
Courts maintain a strong duty to protect First Amendment speech as they have an overriding concern and fear that placing "prior restraints" on speech could lead to a "chilling effect" on other speech. Because of this deference to the First Amendment and the presumption against prior restraints, a court will usually not permit an injunction that prevents the publication and/or distribution of an unauthorized biography but instead will only permit monetary damages to be awarded to remedy the unlawful acts of the author and publisher.[5]
The legality of unauthorized biographies varies by country. Brazil enacted a short-lived law in 2014 requiring permission from biographies' subjects before publication.[7][8][9]
Receptionedit
Unauthorized biographies are not necessarily unwelcomed by their subjects, and in fact some unauthorized biographies have been criticized for displaying overeager admiration for them;[10][11] however, unauthorized biographies have a wider reputation for fueling controversy and painting unflattering portraits of their subjects.[12]
While unauthorized biographies often receive significant news coverage, their writers tend to face "media disdain" due to the perception that their work is gossipy, voyeuristic, and busybodyish.[13]
For a period in the early 1990s, a number of independent publishers — including Revolutionary Comics and Personality Comics[14] — found great success and sales of unauthorized comic book biographies. One publisher claimed that not all its biographies were unauthorized, stating that "DeForest Kelley... and Kim Basinger had sent autographed copies of their biographies, and... Walter Koenig... had edited his."[15] A number of these companies later faced legal challenges to their publications,[16][17] however, which resulted in the unauthorized comics biographies fad dying down.
^Marques, Simone (2014). "Brazil's Banned Biographies: When Public Figures Want to Control the Message". X Index. from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
^"Brazil Ends Controversial Ban on Unauthorised Biographies". ABC. 2015. from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
^"Brazil Overturns 'Ban' on Unauthorised Biographies". BBC News. 2015. from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
^Peck, Gustav (1950). "Review: John L. Lewis: An Unauthorized Biography". The American Political Science Review. 44 (4): 1019–1021. doi:10.2307/1951307. JSTOR 1951307. S2CID 148313318.
^Widmer, Kingsley (1979). "Review: Always Merry and Bright: The Life of Henry Miller – An Unauthorized Biography by Jay Martin". Criticism. 21 (3): 279–281. JSTOR 23102638.
^Sanford, Jay Allen (April 21, 2008). "Pacific Comics: The Inside Story, plus RIP Rocketeer Creator, Comics & Censorship". San Diego Reader. from the original on February 14, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023. Naturally, a slew of cheesy and downright sh-tty 'biographical' comics flooded the market from competitors [of Rock 'N' Roll Comics]. Boneyard, Rock Fantasy, Personality (AKA Friendly, Celebrity and later Pop...), First Amendment Press, and others tried to hop on the bandwagon....
^Burby, Liza N. (July 19, 1992). "To Succeed in Publishing, an Idea and a Dream". The New York Times. p. 177. from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
^"New Kids On The Block Sue Revolutionary". The Comics Journal (Press release). July 1990. p. 17.
^"Joe Montana Suit Settled". The Comics Journal. No. 168. May 1994. pp. 38–39.
Bibliographyedit
Berger, Sidney E. (2016). "Unauthorized Edition". The Dictionary of the Book: A Glossary for Book Collectors, Booksellers, Librarians, and Others. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN9781442263406.
Bilder, Mary Sarah (1991). "The Shrinking Back: The Law of Biography". Stanford Law Review. 43 (2): 299–360. doi:10.2307/1228926. JSTOR 1228926.
Couser, G. Thomas (2004). Vulnerable Subjects: Ethics and Life Writing. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN9780801488634.
Goodall, Reece (2018). "The Problems of Unauthorised Biographies". The Boar. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
Hare, Breeanna (2010). "The Anatomy of an Unauthorized Tell-all". CNN. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
Hoberman, Ruth (2001). "Biography: General Survey". Encyclopedia of Writing: Autobiographical and Biographic Forms. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. ISBN9781136787447.
Kelley, Kitty (2010). "Unauthorized, But Not Untrue: The Real Story of a Biographer in a Celebrity Culture of Public Denials, Media Timidity, and Legal Threats". The American Scholar. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
Klems, Brian A. (2009). "The Difference Between Authorized and Unauthorized Biographies". Writer's Digest. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
Manis, Jerome G. (1994). "What Should Biographers Tell?: The Ethics of Telling Lives". Biography. 17 (4): 386–395. doi:10.1353/bio.2010.0308. JSTOR 23539590. S2CID 145234588.
Margolis, Jonathan (2010). "Rewriting the Rules on Unauthorised Biographies". The Sydney Morning Herald.
Reitz, Joan (2014). "Unauthorized biography". Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. ABC-CLIO.
Rich, Lloyd L. (2002). "Publication of an Unauthorized Biography". Publishing Law Center.
Rollyson, Carl (1997). "God Bless Kitty Kelley; or, Biography High and Low". Biography. 20 (2): 203–208. doi:10.1353/bio.2010.0042. JSTOR 23539833. S2CID 162229802.
Schwarz, Ted (1992). "Unauthorized biography". Writing A to Z. F & W Publications, Inc. ISBN9780898795561.
Scott, Janny (1996). "For Unauthorized Biographers, the World Is Very Hostile". The New York Times. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
Stall, Sam; Harry, Lou; Spalding, Julia (2004). "Unauthorized Biographies". The Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasures: 1,001 Things You Hate to Love. Philadelphia: Quirk Books. ISBN9781931686549.
unauthorized, biography, tell, redirects, here, novel, tell, kiss, tell, redirects, here, other, uses, kiss, tell, unauthorized, biography, sometimes, called, kiss, tell, tell, biography, written, without, subject, permission, input, term, usually, restricted,. Tell all redirects here For the novel see Tell All Kiss and tell redirects here For other uses see Kiss and Tell An unauthorized biography sometimes called a kiss and tell or a tell all is a biography written without the subject s permission or input 1 The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject s lifetime or shortly after their death as such it is not applied to biographies of historical figures written long after their deaths 2 1882 edition of Domestic Manners and Private Life of Sir Walter Scott 1834 by James Hogg an unauthorized biographyContents 1 Objectivity 2 Legality 3 Reception 4 References 4 1 Citations 4 2 Bibliography 5 See alsoObjectivity editUnauthorized biographies may be considered more objective but less reliable than other biographies because they are not subject to the subject s subjective approval and therefore may contain accurate information that the subject would not have authorized but are also not privy to information or corrections known only to the subject or the subject s close friends and family 3 Legality editThe subjects of unauthorized biographies are almost always public figures 4 Rarely do public figures succeed in preventing the release of unauthorized biographies 5 Unauthorized biographies of people who are not deemed public figures may be considered violations of the right to privacy and subject to legal action 6 As Ted Schwarz 1992 writes Interesting people totally unknown to the general public are usually considered private individuals even when married to someone famous Writing about them without their permission may be considered invasion of privacy a situation that seldom arises with politicians entertainers and others who are obvious public figures 4 Speaking of U S courts Lloyd Rich 2002 writes Courts maintain a strong duty to protect First Amendment speech as they have an overriding concern and fear that placing prior restraints on speech could lead to a chilling effect on other speech Because of this deference to the First Amendment and the presumption against prior restraints a court will usually not permit an injunction that prevents the publication and or distribution of an unauthorized biography but instead will only permit monetary damages to be awarded to remedy the unlawful acts of the author and publisher 5 The legality of unauthorized biographies varies by country Brazil enacted a short lived law in 2014 requiring permission from biographies subjects before publication 7 8 9 Reception editUnauthorized biographies are not necessarily unwelcomed by their subjects and in fact some unauthorized biographies have been criticized for displaying overeager admiration for them 10 11 however unauthorized biographies have a wider reputation for fueling controversy and painting unflattering portraits of their subjects 12 While unauthorized biographies often receive significant news coverage their writers tend to face media disdain due to the perception that their work is gossipy voyeuristic and busybodyish 13 For a period in the early 1990s a number of independent publishers including Revolutionary Comics and Personality Comics 14 found great success and sales of unauthorized comic book biographies One publisher claimed that not all its biographies were unauthorized stating that DeForest Kelley and Kim Basinger had sent autographed copies of their biographies and Walter Koenig had edited his 15 A number of these companies later faced legal challenges to their publications 16 17 however which resulted in the unauthorized comics biographies fad dying down References editCitations edit Reitz 2014 Berger 2016 p 268 Klems 2009 Reitz 2014 Hoberman 2001 p 111 Reitz 2014 Stall Harry amp Spalding 2004 p 288 Berger 2016 p 268 Goodall 2018 Margolis 2010 a b Schwarz 1992 p 503 a b Rich 2002 Schwarz 1992 Rich 2002 Marques Simone 2014 Brazil s Banned Biographies When Public Figures Want to Control the Message X Index Archived from the original on May 5 2019 Retrieved May 4 2019 Brazil Ends Controversial Ban on Unauthorised Biographies ABC 2015 Archived from the original on 2019 05 29 Retrieved May 4 2019 Brazil Overturns Ban on Unauthorised Biographies BBC News 2015 Archived from the original on May 5 2019 Retrieved May 4 2019 Peck Gustav 1950 Review John L Lewis An Unauthorized Biography The American Political Science Review 44 4 1019 1021 doi 10 2307 1951307 JSTOR 1951307 S2CID 148313318 Widmer Kingsley 1979 Review Always Merry and Bright The Life of Henry Miller An Unauthorized Biography by Jay Martin Criticism 21 3 279 281 JSTOR 23102638 Hoberman 2001 p 111 Stall Harry amp Spalding 2004 p 288 Hoberman 2001 Kelley 2010 Vincent 2010 Scott 1996 Sanford Jay Allen April 21 2008 Pacific Comics The Inside Story plus RIP Rocketeer Creator Comics amp Censorship San Diego Reader Archived from the original on February 14 2023 Retrieved February 14 2023 Naturally a slew of cheesy and downright sh tty biographical comics flooded the market from competitors of Rock N Roll Comics Boneyard Rock Fantasy Personality AKA Friendly Celebrity and later Pop First Amendment Press and others tried to hop on the bandwagon Burby Liza N July 19 1992 To Succeed in Publishing an Idea and a Dream The New York Times p 177 Archived from the original on February 13 2023 Retrieved February 14 2023 New Kids On The Block Sue Revolutionary The Comics Journal Press release July 1990 p 17 Joe Montana Suit Settled The Comics Journal No 168 May 1994 pp 38 39 Bibliography edit Berger Sidney E 2016 Unauthorized Edition The Dictionary of the Book A Glossary for Book Collectors Booksellers Librarians and Others Lanham Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield ISBN 9781442263406 Bilder Mary Sarah 1991 The Shrinking Back The Law of Biography Stanford Law Review 43 2 299 360 doi 10 2307 1228926 JSTOR 1228926 Couser G Thomas 2004 Vulnerable Subjects Ethics and Life Writing Ithaca New York Cornell University Press ISBN 9780801488634 Goodall Reece 2018 The Problems of Unauthorised Biographies The Boar Retrieved May 4 2019 Hare Breeanna 2010 The Anatomy of an Unauthorized Tell all CNN Retrieved May 4 2019 Hoberman Ruth 2001 Biography General Survey Encyclopedia of Writing Autobiographical and Biographic Forms London Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers ISBN 9781136787447 Kelley Kitty 2010 Unauthorized But Not Untrue The Real Story of a Biographer in a Celebrity Culture of Public Denials Media Timidity and Legal Threats The American Scholar Retrieved May 4 2019 Klems Brian A 2009 The Difference Between Authorized and Unauthorized Biographies Writer s Digest Retrieved May 4 2019 Manis Jerome G 1994 What Should Biographers Tell The Ethics of Telling Lives Biography 17 4 386 395 doi 10 1353 bio 2010 0308 JSTOR 23539590 S2CID 145234588 Margolis Jonathan 2010 Rewriting the Rules on Unauthorised Biographies The Sydney Morning Herald Reitz Joan 2014 Unauthorized biography Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science ABC CLIO Rich Lloyd L 2002 Publication of an Unauthorized Biography Publishing Law Center Rollyson Carl 1997 God Bless Kitty Kelley or Biography High and Low Biography 20 2 203 208 doi 10 1353 bio 2010 0042 JSTOR 23539833 S2CID 162229802 Schwarz Ted 1992 Unauthorized biography Writing A to Z F amp W Publications Inc ISBN 9780898795561 Scott Janny 1996 For Unauthorized Biographers the World Is Very Hostile The New York Times Retrieved May 4 2019 Stall Sam Harry Lou Spalding Julia 2004 Unauthorized Biographies The Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasures 1 001 Things You Hate to Love Philadelphia Quirk Books ISBN 9781931686549 Thikkavarapu Prashant 2014 Rescuing Unauthorised Biographies thehoot org Retrieved May 4 2019 Unauthorised Biographies Something About the Law 2011 Retrieved May 4 2019 permanent dead link Usborne David 2006 Fact or Fiction The Incredible World of Kitty Kelley The Independent Retrieved May 4 2019 Usman Yasser 2018 The Lives of Others Open Retrieved May 4 2019 Vincent Isabel 2010 The Unauthorized Biographer s Challenge The Daily Beast Retrieved May 4 2019 Waweru Nduta 2014 Kenya Thorny Issue of Unauthorised Biographies The Star Retrieved May 4 2019 See also editShock value Doomscrolling Non fiction Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Unauthorized biography amp oldid 1189070435, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
