Official Lives: Lytton Strachey, The Queen’s Cabinet, and The Eminence of Aesthetics

Abstract

Discusses the production of official Lives during the late Victorian era and early twentieth century. Acknowledges the influence of Lytton Strachey on both writers and readers of biography, noting that Strachey’s call for aesthetic standards and for examining the negative as well as positive aspects of a subject’s life had a negative impact on readers’ perceptions of biographies commissioned by the subject or the family. Explains how the purpose of official Lives differed from that proposed by Strachey; reviews a number of Lives of British politicians to show that even in works commissioned to celebrate a subject, an accurate and balanced portrait was possible.