This book provides a comprehensive study of biography, to summarize the standard forms as well as a range of peripheral and expanded forms of auto/biography. Discussion and analyses to be done at three levels, namely ontology, typology, and writing. It is drawn from local and international theories in biography, in addition to related disciplines, in particular for those of the twentieth century, and summarizing the experiences of the writing of classics in both Chinese and Western biographical history, the study establishes a theoretical system of biography. This book can serve as a useful reference for postgraduate students and professional readers who are interested in biographical research.

Zhengrun Yang is a professor of Nanjing University, researcher of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Center for Life Writing, editor-in-Chief of Journal of Modern Life Writing Studies, Chairman of the Specialized Committee for Foreign Literature of Chinese Higher Education Association (2011-2014), as well as Vice President of The Biography Society of China (2007-2015). His main works include Footprints of Humanity, A Concise History of Literary Biography, A Modern Poetics of Biography, The Life of Shelley, The Rock and The Rainbow: Selected Essays on Life Writing by Zhengrun Yang, etc. He has edited Self-Portraits: Studies on Modern Chinese Autobiography and Nationality and A Dictionary for Appreciation of Foreign Biography.