Johns Hopkins Magazine -- February 1999
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FEBRUARY 1999
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RETURN TO ALL THAT GLITTERS

AUTHOR'S NOTEBOOK

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All That Glitters...
Author's Notebook
By Dale Keiger


Much of what interested me about the story of Robert Boyle is the way in which scholars constructed the biography of him that they preferred. Important parts of Larry Principe's new picture of Boyle came from archival material that he brought to life. But there were strong hints of Boyle's alchemical pursuits that earlier scholars could have followed but chose not to. They had an idea of the Robert Boyle that they wanted, and that Boyle was a modern man, not an aspiring adept hoping to find the Philosopher's Stone. Whatever inconveniently countered this image simply didn't make it into the mainstream accounts of Boyle's life. To some of his biographers, the constructed narrative was more important than historical truth.

If you are a writer of nonfiction, it makes you stop and think: Do I ever commit the same sin? As I proceed with a story, do I form an idea of the narrative in my mind and blind myself to details that might mess up that tidy story? It's worth bearing in mind each time I get deep into a project. Journalists often feel the deep need for a story to turn out a certain way contrary to the facts. That's why they end up writing novels. The danger is mixing up the two.


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