Our natural curiosity leads in many directions. We tell stories about others, we listen to narratives of their lives, we read  about other people. Sometimes it frivolous, of little long-term importance, a passing thought, here today, gone tomorrow. That is the stuff of newspapers anxious for the immediate story that fuels current interest which quickly fades.

But not always. A biography that is worth its salt, is both informative and analytic. It seeks to explore a life through balanced research with opinions checked and sourced as far as possible. There has to be integrity in the resultant publication, a respect for relationships in the quest for truth.

A biography has to ask a number of questions, where specific events took place, when they took place and in what circumstances, what actually happened, why did it happen and what were the consequences?

To begin with, what is the reason for writing at all? Usually biographies are written about a person of some significance, someone already known for their contribution, someone about whom we would like to hear greater detail. The great and the good whose story we feel is attractive, or those whose lives have in some way affected society in a detrimental manner. Our curiosity gets the better of us.

It is a mistake to consider the Gospel narratives as biographies of Jesus of Nazareth; that they are not. They are part of a scriptural story of the encounter between God and humankind.

The Gospels are full of chronological holes, with no detail between the birth narrative, the flight into Egypt and the presentation in the temple. Then there is the long silence before the public ministry of Jesus. They are not the story of his life, rather a development of the scriptural revelation by God through the Christ.

Their background is very different, written as they were so many years later and without the resources that  biographers have at their disposal. They unwrap a teaching about a way of life, an intention of purpose that brings the story of salvation to our attention in a strong and meaningful manner. They teach us how to be in relationship with each other and with God. They are certainly not a series of day to day stories about Jesus of Nazareth, but rather about his relationship with the Father and our relationship with God. Scripture and Tradition are two channels of Revelation. The Council speaks of God as the only source of anything. The Gospels teach us how to 'be' in the manner in which we 'do'. Each of us writes our own story by the manner in which we live the Gospel.

A good biography is informative, tells a story in language that holds our attention, a story in which we feel assured that truth is being told, that is reliably sourced, a story that hangs together. We come away from reading it with a greater sense of knowledge and understanding, a deeper appreciation of the journey that someone else has followed, with all its pitfalls.

Having just finished a biography of Sylvia Plath - the Silent Woman - by Janet Malcolm, I was struck by the complexities she describes in Plath's relationship with the poet Ted Hughes and the manner in which other biographers have approached the same subject. It is a very informative book not only for the light it shines on her life but the analysis it offers of biographical writing.

The biographer has a fine line to follow, respecting the feelings of others, relatives, friends and associates of their subject yet needing to write an account that is truthful and to the best of their knowledge accurate. There is always the need for balanced writing where the edge of privacy is respected and permission to quote from difficult sources is sought.

Some people have more than one biographer when a number of different individuals take it upon themselves to put pen to paper. Some might be close friends who want to tell their story of a particular relationship, maybe only writing a brief memoir that highlights a particular event. Such material becomes a valued archive for others who want to examine in greater detail and in a dispassionate manner a life and its consequences. Each brings to the table their own perspective and it inevitably influences their writing. 

It is then that the quality and veracity of source material becomes important. How far can the story being told be trusted? Where is the evidence? The subject may of course still be alive, so the question of their involvement in the text arises.

How far is the biographer being influenced in order to present a flattering portrait?

Stories of our lives live on in the memory of family and friends, each of us on our own particular journey, a path littered with joys and tears, one step at a time.