Biographies

I've been doing research on Maxfield Parrish at the moment, and the whole process of compiling even the shortest of biographies is astounding. First of all, inaccuracies are rampant - not just for Parrish, but for everyone profiled. Was in '85 or '86? Were the problems health or financial? So many small details, crucial to the person living the life, just get jumbled up in a pile, mislabeled, misattributed, misinterpreted.

Of course, it's either hubris or ignorance that would lead anyone to believe the complexities of someone's life could be translated into a biography of any length, but especially a short artist's biography. And when looking back with no assistance to interpret a canceled meeting or a failed marriage, we draw the most ridiculous of assumptions from the smallest of inferences. It reminds me of high school, sitting around with girlfriends and trying to extract every possible ounce of meaning from something as mundane as "I'll call you later." Was he looking at you when he said it? Did he say "I'll call you later" or "I'll call you later tonight"? Again, hubris or ignorance to believe that so much could be mined from so little.

And, of course, we oversimplify, even as we over-complicate. So often, when we make plans, the end result is attributable to a dozen different factors - we're tired, we've had a cold, there's laundry that needs to be done, we don't like the people inviting us as much as we might, we've had a frustrating week at work, we don't have the extra funds for dinner out, etc. But historically, when we interpret people's lives, we just seem to give them only one motive. So few decisions boil down to just one pure reason, and it's this simplification that allows people like Jefferson and Lincoln to be depressive and selfish in the hands of one person while the same set of events with a different treatment makes them introspective and caring in the hands of another.

But in the end, my frustration with biographies is that they are frustratingly limited, perhaps inherently limited, in insight. Small details are left hanging everywhere! If you're going to make me believe that you can tie up someone's entire life in a biography, you have to chase down every loose end. Parrish had a long-term relationship with a woman, moving out of the main house, where his wife and children remained, to live with an "assistant" in his studio. After 50 years together, after the death of his wife, whom he never divorced, his mistress, now in her early 70s, left him to marry another man. A basic Google search for Parrish will reveal these details, but not a word about the late-date breakup. How can anyone not need to know what brought this about?

Perhaps that's the point, that the questions that determine our lives aren't even ones we recognize at the time or even see coming. In the moment, it's all so obvious that explanation is unnecessary, and to recreate a life in retrospect must require chaos theory. After all, we can barely know the people in front of us.