Editions

  • The Biographer's Tale
    Paperback 2001
Penguin Logo
  • Articles, Games and more...

    Articles
    • Recommendations
    • Features
    • Extracts
    • Quizzes
    • View all articles
    Children's articles
    • Recommendations
    • Extracts
    • Games & activities
    • Quizzes
    • View all children's articles
    Penguin Shop
    • Book bundles
      Book bundles
    • Penguin gifts
      Penguin gifts
    • Signed & special editions
      Signed & special editions
    • Writing workshops
      Writing workshops
    • View all
      View all

    • Events
    • Podcasts
    • Apps

    • Penguin Classics
    • VINTAGE
  • Categories

    Fiction
    • Action & adventure
    • Classics
    • Crime, thrillers & mysteries
    • General & literary fiction
    • Graphic novels
    • Romance
    • Poetry
    • Horror
    • Short stories
    • View all fiction
    Non-fiction
    • Art, architecture & photography
    • Biographies
    • Business, economics & law
    • Food & drink
    • Health & lifestyle
    • History
    • Politics, philosophy & culture
    • Science & nature
    • Sports
    • View all non-fiction
    Children's
    • 0 - 18 months
    • 18 months - 3 years
    • 3 - 5 years
    • 5 - 7 years
    • 7 - 9 years
    • 9 - 12 years
    • View all children's

    • Puffin

      Puffin

    • Ladybird

      Ladybird


    • Audiobooks
    • Gifts & box sets
    • Must-read books of 2019
    • 100 must-read classic books
  • Authors A-Z

    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G
    • H
    • I
    • J
    • K
    • L
    • M
    • N
    • O
    • P
    • Q
    • R
    • S
    • T
    • U
    • V
    • W
    • X
    • Y
    • Z
    • All Authors A-Z


    Featured Authors

    Philip Pullman

    Margaret Atwood

    Lee Child

    Jacqueline Wilson

    Ian McEwan

    Naomi Klein

    Malcolm Gladwell

    Toni Morrison

  • About Penguin Random House UK

    About Us
    • Overview
    • Company history
    • Leadership Team
    • News
    • Blogs
    Work with us
    • Authors
    • Careers
    • Rights and permissions
    • Penguin Connect
    • Partnerships
    • Penguin Ventures
    • Sales & distribution
    • Student Design Award
    Publishing houses
    • Cornerstone
    • Ebury
    • Michael Joseph
    • Penguin General
    • Penguin Press
    • Penguin Random House Audio
    • Penguin Random House Children's
    • Transworld
    • VINTAGE
    Creative Responsibility
    • About Creative Responsibility
    • Reading
    • Community
    • Inclusion
    • Sustainability
    • WriteNow
    • Penguin Talks
    Contact us
    • Offices
    • Media contacts
    • Catalogues
  • Gifts for bibliophiles

    Penguin's Christmas Gift Guide
    • Beautiful gift books
    • Festive Christmas stories
    • Books for your secret santa
    • Best books for children
    • Must-read celebrity memoirs of 2019
    • The biggest books of 2019
    • View all
    Penguin Shop
    • Penguin gifts
      Penguin gifts
    • Book bundles
      Book bundles
    • Special and signed editions
      Special and signed editions
    • Writing workshop
      Writing workshop
    • View all
      View all

  • Home
  • The Biographer's Tale
The Biographer's Tale
  • Imprint: Vintage

  • Published: 01/06/2001

  • ISBN: 9780099283935

  • Length: 272  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 17mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 191g

  • RRP: £8.99

The Biographer's Tale

A S Byatt

  • Paperback
  • Hive Waterstones Amazon

Phineas G. Nanson, a disenchanted graduate student, decides to immerse himself in the messiness of ‘real life’ by writing a biography of a great biographer. But a ‘whole life’ is hard to find. Everywhere he looks he discovers only fragments – strange notes, boxes of marbles, undated postcards.

As Phineas’s research continues, his mind roams from the deserts of Africa to the maelstroms of the Arctic. Along the way he meets others building wholes from bits and pieces – taxonomists, ecologists, even travel agents – and begins to puzzle out his future. But who will guide him from the labyrinth and back into his own life?

  • Imprint: Vintage

  • Published: 01/06/2001

  • ISBN: 9780099283935

  • Length: 272  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 17mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 191g

  • RRP: £8.99


  • Share at

  • Facebook - facebook Facebook - facebook Facebook - facebook Facebook - facebook
  • Twitter - twitter Twitter - twitter Twitter - twitter Twitter - twitter
  • Pinterest - pinterest Pinterest - pinterest
  • Email - email Email - email
  • Whatsapp - whatsapp Whatsapp - whatsapp

More from this Author

View all View all
  • Passions Of The Mind
    Passions Of The Mind
    • A S Byatt
  • Portraits In Fiction
    Portraits In Fiction
    • A S Byatt
  • Peacock and Vine
    Peacock and Vine
    • A S Byatt
  • Possession
    Possession
    • A S Byatt
  • The Thing in the Forest (Storycuts)
    The Thing in the Forest (Storycuts)
    • A S Byatt
  • The Pink Ribbon (Storycuts)
    The Pink Ribbon (Storycuts)
    • A S Byatt
  • Raw Material (Storycuts)
    Raw Material (Storycuts)
    • A S Byatt
  • Body Art (Storycuts)
    Body Art (Storycuts)
    • A S Byatt
  • A Stone Woman (Storycuts)
    A Stone Woman (Storycuts)
    • A S Byatt
  • The Children's Book
    The Children's Book
    • A S Byatt
  • Memory
    Memory
    • A S Byatt
    • Harriet Harvey Wood
  • Possession
    Possession
    • A S Byatt
  • Beloved
    Beloved
    • Toni Morrison
  • The Little Black Book of Stories
    The Little Black Book of Stories
    • A S Byatt
  • The Bell
    The Bell
    • Iris Murdoch
  • A Whistling Woman
    A Whistling Woman
    • A S Byatt
  • On Histories And Stories
    On Histories And Stories
    • A S Byatt
  • Daniel Deronda
    Daniel Deronda
    • George Eliot
  • Elementals
    Elementals
    • A S Byatt
  • Unruly Times
    Unruly Times
    • A S Byatt
View all View all

About the Author

A S Byatt

A.S. Byatt is a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A S Byatt

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, offers and more 

  • Please enter an email.

    Please enter a valid email address.

By signing up, I confirm that I'm over 16. To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our Privacy Policy

Thank you for signing up to the Penguin Newsletter

Keep an eye out in your inbox.

Oops! it seems you've already subscribed to this newsletter. View all newsletter

Subscription failed, please try again

About us
  • Our company
  • Work with us
  • Getting published external-link-icon
  • Careers
  • Publishing houses
  • Creative Responsibility
  • Contact us
  • Send website feedback
Useful links
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & conditions
  • Help & FAQs
  • Gender pay gap reports
  • Industry commitment to professional behaviour
  • Permissions
Stay connected

Follow Penguin

  • Facebook Facebook
  • Instagram Instagram
  • Twitter Twitter
  • Youtube Youtube

Follow Puffin

  • Puffin Facebook Puffin Facebook
  • Puffin Instagram Puffin Instagram
  • Puffin Twitter Puffin Twitter
  • Puffin YouTube Puffin YouTube

Follow Ladybird

  • Ladybird Facebook Ladybird Facebook
  • Ladybird Instagram Ladybird Instagram
  • Ladybird Twitter Ladybird Twitter
  • Ladybird YouTube Ladybird YouTube

© 1995 - 2019

Penguin Books Ltd.

Registered number: 861590 England.

Registered office: 80 Strand, London,

WC2R 0RL UK.

Penguin Random House

Penguin Books Limited

A Penguin Random House Company.

We use cookies on this site and by continuing to browse it you agree to us sending you cookies.

For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here.