What's the difference between biography and hagiography?

Biography


Definition:

  • (n.) The written history of a person's life.
  • (n.) Biographical writings in general.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In his biography, Tony Blair admits to having accumulated 70 at one point – "considered by some to be a bit of a constitutional outrage", he adds.
  • (2) Michael Holroyd, in his biography of George Bernard Shaw , gives an illuminating example of myopic hostility to Russia by the right even when we desperately needed allies.
  • (3) Tommy (1975), an engaging version of the Who's slightly dotty rock opera, was followed by two of his less successful freeform biographies, Lisztomania (1975), starring the Who's Roger Daltrey, and Valentino (1977), starring Rudolf Nureyev.
  • (4) A biography, magazine articles, and various surveys of his work convey the impression that his ideas are timely, or at least that they are historically important.
  • (5) Haki's naivety about English detective fiction is more than matched by Latimer's ingenuous excitement as Haki describes to him Dimitrios's sordid career, and he decides it would be fun to write the gangster's biography.
  • (6) "Cameron's interpretation of Merkel's stance is partially based on a misunderstanding," said Stefan Kornelius, foreign editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung and author of an authorised Merkel biography.
  • (7) His many books, which included a biography of Oliver Cromwell and a celebration of the radical millenarian groups of the period called The World Turned Upside Down, were widely read.
  • (8) A brief biography of David Edward Hughes is outlined.
  • (9) Yet the biography of this pupil and successor of Korsakov is that of a liberal, who championned the cause of human rights under the ancient regime, and in particular those of the mentally ill. His theoretical writings, published in the medico-psychological Annales in 1903-1904, are a contribution to the critique made by the French speaking school of the extended conception of dementia praecox developed by Kraepelin in 1899, and taken up by Bleuler in 1911, with his description of the group of schizophrenias.
  • (10) Another lawsuit obliged Ian Hamilton to rewrite large sections of an unauthorised biography published in 1988 – the supreme court ruled that quotations from Salinger's letters infringed his copyright.
  • (11) As any biography will also tell you, for all his shape-shifting brilliance, Bowie is a Royal Variety Performance vaudevillian at heart.
  • (12) It is a sophisticated grid, mounted upon a database that is said to have been more than two years in the development, containing biographies of individuals believed to pose a threat to US interests, and their known or suspected locations, as well as a range of options for their disposal.
  • (13) After the Scot sued Rooney over allegations in a biography the pair reconciled but whether Moyes would want him to stay at United is not yet clear, though he will have the final say on the striker's future.
  • (14) In the case of Twitter this may include who wrote the tweet, their biography, their location, when it was written, how many other tweets have been on that users account, what time it was, who it was sent to, where the author is normally based and, surprisingly in the case of Twitter , the 140 characters of the content in the tweet as well,” he said.
  • (15) For a time, he tells me, the new library operated without a biography section; crime and sci-fi disappeared, too.
  • (16) The details of her biography presented here are not as well known--especially the subsequent course of her illness and treatment and her struggle against prostitution and the white slave trade, the latter carried on with special fascination.
  • (17) I first met Boris in 1987, and a few years ago wrote an unauthorised biography of him , but no specialist knowledge is required to see that this is what he is like.
  • (18) Douglas county sheriff John Hanlin said during the press conference that officials were still working to notify victims next-of-kin and said the medical examiner’s office was expected to release their names and brief biographies Friday afternoon.
  • (19) As the key leave campaigner Boris Johnson said in his biography of Winston Churchill two years ago, the European Union, together with Nato, “has helped to deliver a period of peace and prosperity for its people as long as any since the days of the Antonine emperors”.
  • (20) He was an astonishing figure, as Tim Hilton’s magisterial 2002 biography of him proves.

Hagiography


Definition:

  • (n.) Same Hagiographa.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Sea of Blood is a war hagiography that gives Kim Il-sung exaggerated credit for victories over Japan in the 1930s.
  • (2) Perhaps inevitably, their comments gives the film an air of hagiography bordering on idolatry, or even theology – at one point Hana Ali speaks of her mother, Porche, “seeing God in his eyes”.
  • (3) But surely this can be accomplished without a hagiography of the infamous.
  • (4) Abigail Disney also spoke out against the film, calling it "a misplaced attempt at hagiography."
  • (5) Beloved by fans, respected by his peers and the subject of a thousand hagiographies, it’s hard even for non-Yankees fans to hate Jeter – which makes it hard to hope that the Yankees are the villains yet again.
  • (6) Mr Obama hasn’t even left office, but the cinematic hagiography has begun,” the New York Times commented .
  • (7) The danger of hagiography "was something we all knew was an issue and that I struggled with every day while I was writing it.
  • (8) The problem with biography in general is it tends to be hagiography or denigration, in movies even more than books,” Kendall said.
  • (9) There, official hagiographies claim Xi lived in a cave and – when he wasn’t herding sheep or shovelling coal or manure – pored over the teachings of Mao.
  • (10) "If there is a problem with it, it is that it is too much of a eulogy, a hagiography."
  • (11) The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw labelled Hirschbiegel's film "an excruciatingly well-intentioned, reverential and sentimental biopic about her troubled final years, laced with bizarre cardboard dialogue", while the Observer's Mark Kermode called it "a film which has neither backbone nor teeth, swerving drearily between hagiography ('I just want to help people!')
  • (12) Although audience reaction was strong, reviews were tepid at best, with the Guardian’s Catherine Shoard saying: “it is all but impossible for such a study to not stray into hagiography, and Guggenheim doesn’t really put up much of a fight.” Possible major nomination: Best documentary feature.
  • (13) These facts were conveniently omitted from his hagiography.
  • (14) His poetic verse is little more than a memory now because of his tragically diminished state, but on his 60th birthday we have forsaken the hagiography to let Ali speak for himself.
  • (15) And mentally is where you learn how to fight … it is in the street.” For him a broken link between the street and the stadium should be of urgent concern to Fifa – which was mocked last week for spending an alleged £16m on a hagiography of Blatter that premiered at the Cannes film festival – and football’s other governing bodies.
  • (16) But a film in the works, starring Tim Roth and Gérard Depardieu , looks likely instead to be a sanitised version of its history and a hagiography of Sepp Blatter, its controversial president.