Recovering, reimagining or reinventing Elizabeth Macarthur in speculative biography

Abstract

<p>This investigation of four biographical narratives on the same person, all published since 2018 and inspired by the same epistolary corpus, demonstrates differences in authorial purpose and reader expectation across the 'speculative spectrum' of biographical interpretation. The subject, Elizabeth Macarthur, arrived in New South Wales in 1790. Two of the texts are works of historical scholarship, with publishers classification non-fiction biography. The other two are published as novels. The authors' differing purposes, their interpretations and their stylistic treatments of the same source material, provide an illustrative demonstration of the narrative functions of biography and biofiction. This essay examines the depiction of Elizabeth Macarthur's life in the four texts to highlight the differences between scholarly biographies and biofictions from the perspective of their writing practices. It examines their use of speculation and literary devices and how these are signposted to the reader by evaluating the authors'engagement with archival sources, their use of empathy and projection and their narrative techniques. It questions how biofiction can supplement or supplant traditional biography.</p>