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Theoretical and methodological foundations / Fondements théoriques et méthodologiques

The Complexity of Biography for Young Readers

A Proposal for a Theoretical and Conceptual Framework
La complexité de la biographie pour la jeunesse : proposition d’un cadre théorique et conceptuel
Chiara Malpezzi

Résumés

La biographie en littérature de jeunesse est un genre littéraire complexe dans sa définition, marqué par un développement historique significatif. Les récits biographiques offrent des modèles de comportement, constituent des sources de savoir et témoignent de la pluralité des parcours de vie et des carrières professionnelles qui s’offrent aux femmes et aux hommes. Cette diversité d’objectifs se manifeste dans le cadre de formats hybrides, mêlant fiction et non-fiction, où texte et image collaborent pour créer des portraits pluriels des figures biographiques.
Cet article explore la complexité du genre biographique en proposant un cadre théorique et conceptuel pour analyser la manière dont les sujets biographiques sont présentés à la jeunesse. Trois dimensions analytiques se dégagent ainsi : celle du sujet comme modèle (proposant une manière d’être et d’agir selon un schéma prédéfini), comme icône (image marquée par des traits récurrents qui instaurent une tendance reconnaissable), et comme symbole (élément unificateur qui génère un réseau de significations). Ces catégories reflètent différentes facettes du sujet biographique, toutes articulées autour de la question narrative centrale : qui sont-iels ?
L’hypothèse de recherche vise à explorer comment ces trois dimensions se combinent dans la construction narrative de l’identité biographique. Le cadre MIS (Modèle–Icône–Symbole) est conçu comme un outil permettant de saisir les perspectives structurelles, littéraires et pédagogiques qui sous-tendent ce genre.
Dans cette optique, l’étude mène une analyse textuelle et visuelle d’un corpus sélectionné de biographies illustrées publiées en Italie entre le début des années 2000 et les années 2020, portant sur des figures issues des domaines scientifique et artistique. Le corpus principal comprend des figures canoniques telles que Galilée et Marie Curie, ainsi que des figures intégrées plus récemment dans les collections biographiques destinées à la jeunesse, dans une perspective d’élargissement du canon à d’autres domaines du savoir, comme les arts et la musique – par exemple Jean-Sébastien Bach et Maria Callas.
Grâce à l’application du cadre MIS, l’analyse met en évidence des modèles récurrents, des traits iconiques et des motifs symboliques, montrant comment la nature plurielle de la biographie contribue à façonner la représentation de l’identité auprès des jeunes lecteurs et lectrices.

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1. Complex and Nuanced Biographies: Reframing Life Writing for Young Readers

  • 1 Giuseppe Zago, “La biografia nella storiografia e nella storiografia dell’educazione. Linee evoluti (...)

1Approaching the literary genre of biography means grappling with life—a mutable and ever-changing substance, shaped by relative and subjective perceptions. The awareness of the complexity of biographical writing, as an attempt to give meaning and structure to the elusive nature of human life, stems from conceptions attributed to individuals and their relationships with the community and their time.1

  • 2 Clémentine Beauvais, “Bright Pasts, Brighter Futures: Biographies for Children in the Early Twenty- (...)
  • 3 Ibid.

2Described as a “living fossil”2 within children’s literature, biography for young readers is rooted in centuries-old educational traditions. Its origins lie in medieval hagiography, seventeenth-century moral tales, and eighteenth-century fictionalised lives,3 all centred on the didactic aim of presenting exemplary role models to young audiences.

  • 4 Daniel Hahn, History and biography, in: Daniel Hahn (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Children’s Lit (...)
  • 5 John F. Savil, The Juvenile Plutarch, containing accounts of the lives of children, and of the infa (...)
  • 6 The Parallel Lives are among the oldest collective biographies written by the Greek historian Pluta (...)
  • 7 For an illustrative sample of the widespread production of texts inspired by Plutarch’s Parallel Li (...)
  • 8 G. Zago, “La biografia nella storiografia”, op. cit., p. 206.
  • 9 Gabriella Seveso, “‘Storie della buonanotte per bambine ribelli’: un caso editoriale femminista’?(...)

3A key reference in the development of children’s biography4 is The Juvenile Plutarch (1801),5 attributed to John F. Savill and published by Benjamin Tabart in London. Inspired by Plutarch’s Parallel Lives,6 it recounts 13 lives marked more by adventure than by moralism. In the nineteenth century, however, the widespread diffusion of these “juvenile Plutarchs”—notably in France and Italy7—came to emphasise heroic figures as embodiments of civic virtue and patriotic fidelity,8 while women were typically confined to the subordinate role of mothers of patriots9 in so-called female Plutarchs, shaped by bourgeois morality.

  • 10 Barbara Chatton, Biography, in: Bernice E. Cullinan, Diane G. Person (eds.), The Continuum Encycl (...)
  • 11 Kate Douglas, Children and Biography. Reading and Writing Life Stories, London, Bloomsbury, 2022, p (...)
  • 12 A pivotal moment was Jean Fritz’s And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? (1973), which offered an aut (...)
  • 13 In Italy a noteworthy example is the publisher Emme Edizioni, which concluded its catalogue in 1985 (...)

4This moralising tradition persisted during the twentieth century, when biographies often presented idealised and ahistorical portraits10 that reinforced normative behaviours. Nevertheless, by the 1970s, a significant ideological shift emerged,11 with a growing interest in factual rigor, diversified representation, and innovative formats such as the nonfiction picturebook.12 During the 1980s, the biographical picturebook gained increasing traction across Europe, as evidenced by the circulation of translated editions and the emergence of series dedicated to prominent historical figures.13

  • 14 Nina Goga, “Verbal and visual informational strategies in non-fiction books awarded and mentioned b (...)
  • 15 Ibid.

5This evolution marked the beginning of a new attention to psychological complexity and demystification of biographical subjects, laying the groundwork for contemporary biographies that engage with broader cultural debates about identity, empowerment and inclusion. These works often pursue multifaceted aims and adopt experimental narrative structures. For instance, while traditional biographies often rely on linear progression—the “from cradle to grave” arc14—many contemporary works thus experiment with circular or taxonomic forms, emphasising symbolic patterns and episodic recollections.15

  • 16 Sinéad Moriarty, “Modeling Environmental Heroes in Literature for Children: Stories of Youth Climat (...)
  • 17 Joe Sutliff Sanders, A Literature of Questions. Nonfiction for the Critical Child, Minneapolis, Uni (...)
  • 18 S. Moriarty, Modeling Environmental Heroes, op. cit., p. 200.

6Another significant development is the emergence of complex and nuanced biographies16 that illuminate the complexity of their subjects. These narratives do not idealise their protagonists; instead, they depict imperfect characters and flawed individuals, drawing attention “to the cracks”17 in their lives—their moments of doubts, failure, and contradiction—and to the ongoing process of identity formation, marked by partial achievements or incomplete knowledge. In doing so, they create a space for critical engagement, inviting readers to question their life-stories rather than emulate them. Such an approach moves beyond traditional biographical modes, particularly the “hero narratives”, which centre on exceptional individuals and their triumphs.18

  • 19 Maria Casado Villanueva, “Portrait of the artist as a complex man: Engagement and discovery in pict (...)
  • 20 François Dosse, Le pari biographique. Écrire une vie, Paris, Éditions la Découverte, 2005, p. 108.
  • 21 Marnie Campagnaro, “Stepping into the World of Houses. Children’s Picture Books on Architecture”, i (...)

7Furthermore, complex and nuanced biographies develop non-univocal narratives, in which the boundaries between facts and fiction become increasingly blurred.19 Life writing has thus evolved into hybrid forms, shaped by the interplay between factual accuracy and narrative construction. Within this dynamic, biography can be understood as existing along a spectrum stretching between nonfiction and fiction:20 at one end, it displays commitment to historical truth and the documented reconstruction of a life—through factual style, paratextual apparatus,21 and reliance on authentic sources; at the other, the process involves different narrative strategies aimed at engaging young readers.

8In the light of this evolving conceptualisation, biographies emerge as sophisticated literary constructs that negotiate a path between past and present, individual and society, factual truth and imaginative reconstruction.

9This study argues that the strategies used to structure the texts, the literary and aesthetic devices employed to represent biographical subjects, and the underlying pedagogical assumptions all contribute to shaping complex and multi-layered narratives in contemporary biographies. Investigating this genre therefore entails an examination of how the biographical subjects’ lives are shaped, mediated through text and pictures, and made meaningful to the readers. These questions inform the present study, which proposes a theoretical and conceptual framework intended to capture the multifaceted nature of contemporary biography. By mapping out key interpretative dimensions, the article aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of this narrative form as a dynamic genre that reflects the ways in which real lives are portrayed in children’s literature.

2. Model, Icon, and Symbol: A Theoretical and Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Contemporary Biography

10Life writing is a creative and interpretative endeavour that entails selecting a narrative perspective, portraying a subject, and identifying salient traits capable of conveying an impression of the figure represented. By questioning the textual and visual forms through which the identity of the biographical subject takes shape, this study proposes a theoretical and conceptual framework centred on three recurrent categories in biographical studies: those of “model”, “icon”, and “symbol”. This triadic structure is here referred to as the MIS Framework (Model–Icon–Symbol), a tool developed for this study to analyse contemporary children’s biographies. Grounded in existing scholarship on biography, the MIS Framework investigates the layered interplay between narrative structure, literary and visual style, and pedagogical function in life writing for young readers. Following a bottom-up approach, the tool is constructed by identifying categories already present in the literature—drawing in particular from historical-critical approaches to the notions of model and icon, and from literary theory on symbol—with the aim of offering a systematisation capable of interpreting contemporary trends in the genre.

11The three terms are semantically rich, and their use in allusion to biographical subjects reflects an enduring need to classify exemplary figures by attributing them a paradigmatic value. In this way, they function as referential and exemplary constructs within the reader’s process of meaning-making.

  • 22 Carrie Hintz, Eric L. Tribunella, Reading Children’s Literature. A Critical Introduction, Peterboro (...)
  • 23 K. Douglas, Children and Biography, op. cit., p. 3.
  • 24 Sara Van der Haagen, “Practical Truths: Black Feminist Agency and Public Memory in Biographies for (...)
  • 25 Gale Eaton, Well-Dressed Role Models. The Portrayal of Women in Biographies for Children, Lanham, T (...)

12The model refers to a way of being and acting according to a socially or culturally constructed pattern. It typically centres on a figure whose psychological traits, behaviours, and relationships are presented for emulation, providing moral and normative references intended to guide the education of the young readers. One of the primary objectives of the biographical genre is, indeed, to propose role models.22 In most cases, these figures are constructed as positive examples, to suggest existential paths that may be imitated and appropriated. Because of this orientation, didacticism has been identified as one of the genre’s critical features,23 because it risks reinforcing stereotypes by reducing the complexity of characters and presenting them in simplified, morally unambiguous terms. Such simplification may also limit the reader’s ability to reflect deeply on the subject, and downplay the multilayered nature of human experiences. At the same time, recent scholarship has sought to reconceptualise the function of role models in children’s biographies, foregrounding figures that promote critical engagement and enhance agency24—although such figures may still operate within the bounds of a progressive form of didacticism.25 The model thus remains a structurally significant element of biographical narration, articulated differently according to historically situated educational and ideological frameworks.

  • 26 Federica Muzzarelli, Moderne icone di moda. La costruzione fotografica del mito, Torino, Einaudi, 2 (...)
  • 27 Konrad Onasch, Annemarie Schnieper, Icons: The Fascination and the Reality, New York, Riverside Boo (...)

13The icon is defined as an image marked by recurring and recognisable traits that establish a trend.26 Rooted in the tradition of sacred imagery, the icon has historically served to convey shared cultural values and collective aspirations.27 Its effectiveness lies in its capacity to condense meaning, offering a visual synthesis that becomes emotionally resonant.

  • 28 Edgar Morin, Les stars, Paris, Le Seuil, 1957.
  • 29 Macarena García-González, “Chasing Remarkable Lives: A Problematization of Empowerment Stories for (...)
  • 30 Sarah Banet-Weiser, “‘Confidence you can carry!’: Girls in Crisis and the Market for Girls’ Empower (...)
  • 31 Louise Couceiro, Empowering or Responsibilising? A Critical Content Analysis of Contemporary Biogr (...)

14In contemporary media, iconic figures, such as media stars,28 operate as projective surfaces for identity, desire, and belonging, shaping not only visual recognition but also affective and ethical orientation. In children’s biographies, such characters are part of a market of cultural artefacts aimed at fostering a sense of emulation, admiration, and almost veneration. Biographies often function as emotional commodities, transforming lives into “happy objects”29—desirable entities that circulate across textual and material forms, from the book to its accompanying merchandise. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced in the case of female subjects, whose stories are today framed within the discourse of popular feminism and positioned within a broader market for empowerment.30 Such representations encourage readers “to consume, be inspired, and achieve empowerment as well”,31 aligning with cultural logics that celebrate individual achievement while reinforcing consumer-oriented models of empowerment.

15Thus, the iconic dimension involves both aesthetic markers—such as distinctive clothing, symbolic objects, or stylised settings—and market logics, through which figures are made visible, recognisable, and consumable. The icon functions affectively, shaping not only the way in which the subjects are seen, but how they are positioned within a broader cultural imaginary landscape.

16Finally, the symbol represents a unifying element that generates a network of meanings. In biographical narratives, symbols function as rhetorical devices that invite reflection on the significance of the subject’s life—not only as an individual story, but as a point of access to shared cultural, ethical, or historical concerns.

  • 32 Marco Dallari, La zattera della bellezza. Per traghettare il principio di piacere nell’avventura ed (...)
  • 33 Ibid., p. 47.

17In a pedagogical perspective, symbols are resources for representing one’s identity and one’s relationship with otherness.32 Children’s literature thus contributes to the development of symbolic competences, unfolding a multiplicity of codes that are not only literary but also visual and related to multimedia settings. In this sense, biographies for young readers act as “catalysts”33 for symbols, condensing the ideas and aspirations of a given community and projecting them both onto the biographical subject and the reader. These processes of symbolisation can elicit a range of reflective responses—from identification to critical distance—depending on how the symbolic content aligns with the reader’s own cultural framework or emotional world.

18Hence, the model, icon, and symbol are understood as distinct yet inter-related dimensions, each characterised by its own structural logic, stylistic expression, and pedagogical orientation. Taken together, they form the foundation of the MIS Framework, which this study proposes as a tool for analysing the narrative strategies, literary and aesthetic choices, and educational intents embedded in biographies for young readers. Thus, three perspectives—structural, stylistic, and pedagogical—will be examined in detail to demonstrate how the MIS Framework can be applied to a selection of biographical texts.

3. Applying the MIS Framework: A Methodological Approach to Analysing Children’s Biographies

19Now that the MIS Framework has been outlined as a theoretical and conceptual tool for understanding the complexity of biographical subjectivity in children’s literature, this section aims to articulate its methodological application.

20To systematise the interpretive process, the MIS Framework proposes to associate the three recurring representational categories—model, icon, and symbol—with specific structural markers, stylistic features, and pedagogical orientations, as synthetised by the following table (ill. 1). Rather than functioning as mutually exclusive labels, these dimensions operate as analytical axes that guide interpretation and allow for the identification, contextualisation, and comparison of dominant tendencies in biographical representation.

Illustration 1: MIS Framework © Chiara Malpezzi, 2025.

21On the structural level, biography raises epistemological questions about how life—dynamic, multifaceted, and shaped by interactions with both human and non-human agents—can be made intelligible through a literary form. The chosen narrative structure thus reflects broader assumptions about the meaning and narratability of human existence. A linear—or genealogical—progression is often employed in biographies that foreground the model dimension, as it clarifies the cause-effect relationships that lead the subject to embody specific forms of behaviour and achieve recognisable goals. Conversely, the symbolic dimension tends to emerge more clearly in texts that adopt multiple perspectives or circular or taxonomic structures, which resist linear causality and invite more subjective and reflective modes of interpretation. The iconic dimension is often supported by recurring types of illustrations, such as portraits that establish a recognisable visual identity and connect the subject to broader visual traditions.

22Paratextual elements also play a structural role in emphasising specific MIS dimensions. For example, prefaces or back-cover notes may explicitly frame the biographical subject as a model, highlighting their exemplary value. Photographs or visual archives contribute to building an iconic representation, while appendices or thematic insights—such as quotations or interpretive reflections—may foreground the symbolic layer, prompting readers to engage with deeper meanings that transcend the factual narrative.

  • 34 The notion of intertextuality is adopted as the relationship between a text or image and another te (...)

23From a stylistic perspective, biography operates within a network of literary and visual conventions shaped by the genre’s historical development and its intended readership. The representation of models typically draws on a rich and evaluative adjectival lexicon that characterises the protagonist’s inner traits and behaviour. These characterisations may range from simplified depictions relying on moralising language, reinforced by imperative verbs and instructional phrasing, to more nuanced and realistic portrayals that encourage interpretive engagement. The icon is constructed through stylisation, recurrent visual motifs, and inter-iconic references34 that evoke a broader archive of cultural images, objects, and media representations. In turn, the symbolic dimension is conveyed through metaphorical language, rhetorical figures, and intertextual layering.

24Finally, from a pedagogical standpoint, biography engages with the purpose for which a life is being narrated. The model fosters identification through proximity, offering young readers access to believable traits and domains of action, providing behavioural and moral guidance. The icon engages the affective realm by eliciting admiration, recognition, and sometimes devotion, inviting readers to emotionally connect with the subject. The symbolic texture of the biography invites a reflective interpretive experience, acting as cognitive and emotional catalyst—guiding readers toward existential questioning and fostering a layered, imaginative understanding of the meanings embedded in the lives that are narrated.

25The MIS framework aims not only at the classification of dominant modes, but also at the identification of hybrid forms, where model, icon, and symbol coexist or shift in emphasis across different analytical axes—such as narrative structure, literary and visual representation, or pedagogical intent—revealing the dynamic interplay between formal, aesthetic, and ideological dimensions within a given biography.

  • 35 C. Malpezzi, “From Queens to Rebel Girls?”, op. cit., p. 26.

26To demonstrate its applicability, each dimension will be analysed through case studies drawn from a selected corpus of Italian biographies, published from the early 21st century onwards. The timespan corresponds to a period marked by a notable increase in both the quality and quantity of children’s literature in Italy, embracing a broader variety of themes and biographical subjects.35

  • 36 Sabina Colloredo, Sonia Maria Luce Possentini, Noi, Galileo e la luna, Milano, Carthusia, 2018.
  • 37 Chiara Carminati, Pia Valentinis, L’ultima fuga di Bach, Palermo, rueBallu, 2012.
  • 38 Simona Cerrato, Grazia Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia. La vera vita di Marie e Irène Curie, Tri (...)
  • 39 Paola Capriolo, Alessandra Scandella, Maria Callas, San Dorligo della Valle (TS), EL, 2007.
  • 40 The biography of Marie Curie inaugurates the “Donne nella Scienza” [“Women in Science] series by Ed (...)

27The analysis focuses on four illustrated biographies of outstanding figures spanning a broad historical timeframe: the scientist and astronomer Galileo Galilei36 (1564-1642), the musician and composer Johann Sebastian Bach37 (1685-1750), the physicist and chemist Marie Skłodowska-Curie38 (1867-1934), and the opera singer Maria Callas39 (1923-1977). These texts are chosen for their integration in notable biographical series40 and their recognised quality, as evidenced by awards received by both the series and their creator in the field of children’s literature.

28The chosen figures represent both the scientific and the artistic-musical dimensions of cultural heritage, allowing for a comparative analysis of how different domains are narrated and visually constructed for young readers.

3.1. Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Galileo Galilei: Modelling the Scientific Profession across Generations

Illustration 2: Sabina Colloredo, Sonia Maria Luce Possentini, Noi, Galileo e la Luna, Milano, Carthusia, 2018.

Illustration 3: Simona Cerrato, Grazia Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia. La vera vita di Marie e Irène Curie, Trieste, Editoriale Scienza, 2003.

  • 41 S. Cerrato, G. Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia, op. cit.
  • 42 S. Colloredo, S. M. L. Possentini, Noi, Galileo e la luna, op. cit.

29The biographies of Marie Skłodowska-Curie—Radioattività in famiglia41 [Radioactivity in the Family]—and Galileo Galilei—Noi, Galileo e la Luna42 [Us, Galileo and the Moon]—offer a paradigmatic example of how the model, icon, and symbol dimensions can co-exist and intertwine in the construction of the biographical subject.

  • 43 S. Cerrato, G. Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia, op. cit., p. 79.
  • 44 Ibid., back cover.

30From the perspective of the model, both biographies are structured on the recurrence of recognisable behavioural patterns and relational dynamics. Radioattività in famiglia is framed by a genealogical narrative that links Marie, her daughter Irène, and granddaughter Hélène, constructing a coherent line of female scientific legacy. The biography thus opens in 1933, as Marie recounts her life to her daughter Irène, who has just experienced professional failure, and closes with a letter from Irène after her mother’s death, in 1934, and a final statement from her own daughter, Hélène—herself a scientist—who significantly reflects on how success is secondary to one’s passion for work.43 This multigenerational perspective situates Marie not as an exceptional individual, but as part of a shared scientific legacy that is passed down to future generations. The educational purpose of the series is also clearly conveyed on the book’s back cover, which emphasises the publisher’s intention to present complex and passionate portraits of women scientists as figures to be identified with by the readers,44 possibly encouraging young girls to pursue a scientific career. This aim is reinforced stylistically by the use of instructional phrasing that invites emulation and explicitly frame the biographies as aspirational models.

  • 45 S. Colloredo, S. M. L. Possentini, Noi, Galileo e la luna, op. cit., p. 50.
  • 46 Ibid., p. 1.
  • 47 Ibid., p. 58.
  • 48 Ibid.

31The biography of Galileo Galilei is developed through a polyphonic structure, shaped by the fictional voices of his sister and daughter—both named Virginia—who are portrayed as being partially involved in the astronomer’s experiments. Here, too, the representation of scientific professions is constructed through a genealogical lens, even though, as is explicitly acknowledged in the paratexts,45 pursuing a scientific career would have been nearly impossible for women at the time. This fictional mode, however, contributes to offering a more intimate portrait of the renowned scientist, who stands out not only for his intellectual prowess, but above all for his courage in asserting his freedom from the dominant scientific and religious conventions of his time. Indeed, the intention behind the biography is explicitly stated in the paratextual material. In both the front matter46 and the afterword,47 the series is described as a tribute to key figures in the history of the University of Padua, distinguished by their nonconformity and visionary thinking.48

  • 49 S. Cerrato, G. Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia, op. cit., p. 25.
  • 50 Ibid., p. 37.
  • 51 “Poi mi accorgo di essermi sbagliata, è tremendo. Non ho messo in conto la possibilità dell’errore! (...)

32In addition to these structural strategies, the model dimension is also conveyed through stylistic choices. In the biography of Marie Skłodowska-Curie, a rich use of adjectives portrays the scientist as determined49 and competitive,50 yet also vulnerable to doubt and failure. Therefore, the text does not hide her insecurities but incorporates them into a credible and formative model that reflects the tension between ambition and fragility. For instance, her emotional response to setbacks in the process of isolating radium is openly described, underscoring the difficulty and unpredictability of scientific work: “Then I realise I was wrong. It’s devastating. I had not accounted for the possibility of error!”51

  • 52 S. Colloredo, S. M. L. Possentini, Noi, Galileo e la luna, op. cit., p. 17.

33Galileo Galilei’s biography is more lyrical and fragmentary, using evocative language and introspective narration. Although the psychological characterisation of the subject is filtered through the emotionally engaged perspectives of the two narrators, the main character is not idealised. He is portrayed as aloof at times, fully absorbed in his work, and prone to outbursts of anger.52

  • 53 Anne Schneider, “De mulieribus illustribus: Au sujet des femmes illustres. Représentations des femm (...)
  • 54 S. Cerrato, G. Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia, op. cit., p. 80-81.

34As for the iconic dimension, unlike other biographies of Marie Skłodowska-Curie, where the predominance of pink risks reinforcing gender stereotypes,53 Radioattività in famiglia develops its iconic dimension through a set of realistic visual traits that echo numerous photographic sources included in the book.54 As shown in the cover illustration (see ill. 3), the black dress, lab instruments, and concentrated gaze are recognisable signs of her identity, coherently constructing an image of rigour and professionalism. In contrast, Galileo’s iconicity is constructed through absence and indirection. His face is rarely centrally displayed or fully rendered; instead, the illustrations highlight emblematic objects—such as the telescope or the moon—and unusual visual perspectives, often from below looking upward, which evoke his intellectual disposition toward gazing at the sky, aligning the reader with Galileo’s posture: looking upward, searching, wondering.

  • 55 Ibid., p. 11.
  • 56 Ibid., p. 30.
  • 57 Ibid., p. 93.

35Finally, the symbolic dimension emerges strongly in both texts. Marie Skłodowska-Curie is represented through metaphors such as “priestess”55 and “nun”,56 which emphasise her almost ascetic devotion to science. This is reinforced by the contrast between the blackness of her attire and the radiance of knowledge, as described in a poem by Marie herself.57 Here, light becomes a metaphor for intellectual pursuit and moral clarity—a secularised form of enlightenment in which the luminous force of scientific discovery replaces spiritual transcendence.

36In Noi, Galileo e la Luna, the symbolic dimension is foregrounded through the recurring motif of the moon, which links Galileo’s contemplative nature, his scientific pursuits, and his emotional connection to the two women narrating his life. Replacing the traditional protagonist’s portrait on the cover (see ill. 2), the moon becomes a shared reference point between him and the readers, evoking the universal experience of observing the night sky. This symbolic device fosters a sense of continuity between different generations—an intention reflected in the title’s use of the first-person plural, which brings the historical figure closer to contemporary young audiences.

37Through the construction of their biographical subjects as models, icons, and symbols, both texts develop multifaceted characters, placing particular emphasis on presenting a non-idealised example of scientific vocation—one that acknowledges error and doubt, and gives space to emotions such as anger, frustration, or uncertainty as part of the learning and discovery process, while simultaneously portraying science as both a personal journey and a process of intergenerational transmission. Within this educational aim, the portrait of the scientist emerges in all its complexity, through the layering of texts and images enriched with symbolic references.

3.2. Johan Sebastian Bach and Maria Callas: Symbolic Connections Between Art and Life in Iconic Figures of the Music World

Illustration 4: Chiara Carminati, Pia Valentinis, L’ultima fuga di Bach, Palermo, rueBallu, 2012.

Illustration 5: Paola Capriolo, Alessandra Scandella, Maria Callas, San Dorligo della Valle (TS), EL, 2007.

  • 58 C. Carminati, P. Valentinis, L’ultima fuga, op. cit.
  • 59 P. Capriolo, A. Scandella, Maria Callas, op. cit.

38The application of the MIS Framework to the biographies of Johann Sebastian Bach—L’ultima fuga di Bach58 [Bach’s Last Fugue]—and Maria Callas—Maria Callas59—illustrates how the three dimensions can be variously combined to shape the representation of artistic subjectivity in children’s literature. While both texts adopt a literary tone marked by lyricism and aesthetic sensitivity, they articulate distinct structural, stylistic and pedagogical orientations that correspond to different conceptions of life narratives.

  • 60 Ibid., p. 26.
  • 61 Ibid., p. 38.

39The model dimension is more overtly developed in the biography of Maria Callas, which presents a layered psychological profile of the protagonist. Narrated in the third person by an omniscient voice, the text follows a linear structure, tracing her life from birth to death. Using a rich adjectival lexicon, her willpower, determination,60 and extraordinary vocal talent are highlighted, but, at the same time, the narrative openly acknowledges her contradictions—her pride61 and haughty temperament.

  • 62 Ibid., p. 48.

40As in the biography of Marie Skłodowska-Curie, the model dimension in the opera singer’s life also intertwines with the symbolic one through the sacral metaphor. Maria Callas is portrayed as a priestess, stepping onto the stage as if performing a sacred ritual62—an image that is especially resonant given one of her most iconic roles, that of Norma in Vincenzo Bellini’s eponymous opera.

  • 63 The word “queen” (in Italian regina) recurs throughout the text multiple times; see: Ibid., p. 53, (...)
  • 64 Ibid., p. 58.

41This image serves as a symbolic bridge for describing the transformation of the artist into a diva—a divine and queen-like figure.63 Indeed, La Divina becomes the name by which Callas is increasingly known to her audience, as her fame rises. As a jet set diva,64 she intersects with a broader visual culture—the world of cinema, fashion, and the media—and this contributes to growing tension with the world of opera, which eventually distances itself from her. The biography does not elide these tensions; instead, it frames them as a constitutive part of the subject’s uniqueness, making her a model through the dramatic complexity that results from public admiration and rejection, personal fragility, and artistic excess.

42By contrast, the life of Johann Sebastian Bach does not present him primarily as a role model but provides an emotional and poetic landscape through which readers are invited to experience passion for music. The narrative is structured through multiple voices, some directly connected to him, such as those of family members, and others who cross his path more fleetingly—and even a nonhuman voice, that of a little bird—concluding with that of a contemporary music student. This narrative choice of a fragmentary form resists linear causality and highlights a symbolic value of life writing. It recalls the approach seen in the biographies of Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Galileo Galilei, but with an even more experimental outcome. Through this interplay of voices, readers are invited to reflect on the fact that a biography is not merely the story of a single life, but rather one that explicitly carries the traces of all those who came before and shaped it—flowing downstream until it reaches today’s readers.

  • 65 C. Carminati, P. Valentinis, L’ultima fuga, op. cit., p. 15.
  • 66 “la corrente sfrenata di un ruscello”, Ibid., p. 32.
  • 67 “come un fiume che raccoglie l’acqua di tanti ruscelli”, Ibid., p. 67.
  • 68 Chiara Carminati is a writer and poet who has collaborated with leading Italian publishers, as well (...)

43The biography thus opens with the words of one of Bach’s ancestors, the miller Veit Bach, who explains the origins of the surname Bach, linked both to the “brook”65—the harmonious flow of water—and to the wandering musicians of Eastern Europe. This opening also seems to suggest a kind of symbolic predestination of Bach for music, tying him to a lineage of musicians and establishing a correspondence between art and life. The stream then becomes a guiding symbolic motif, recurring through each chapter: for instance, Bach’s rebellious nature is said to have been uncontrollable like “the wild current of a stream”,66 while his musical language absorbed various influences “like a river collecting the water of many brooks”.67 These images allow readers to access the emotional core of Bach’s life beyond factual accuracy, reflecting author Chiara Carminati’s particular attention to musicality—a quality that also characterises her work as an acclaimed Italian poet.68

  • 69 P. Capriolo, A. Scandella, Maria Callas, op. cit., p. 7.

44A similar symbolic correspondence between art and life also shapes Callas’s biography, though in this case it serves to emphasise the protagonist’s individual experience. The text opens with an allegorical account of her birth during a snowstorm—interpreted as a cosmic sign69 that echoes the tradition of Greek tragedy—and continues with numerous references to omens and fatal coincidences. Callas is repeatedly described as losing herself in her roles, until the boundaries between art and life fatally blur. Therefore, the biography constructs Callas not just as a performer but as a tragic symbol, whose passion for art becomes inseparable from her personal suffering and ultimate decline.

  • 70 C. Carminati, P. Valentinis, L’ultima fuga, op. cit., p. 109.

45Finally, the iconic dimension in Bach’s biography is carefully constructed through recurrent visual motifs and stylised portraiture. The protagonist is often depicted in profile or in three-quarter views, echoing the traditional iconography of the composer. These portraits are overlaid with symbolic textures, such as musical notation embedded in his wig or waves in the background that visually reinforce the motif of the stream (see ill. 4). Furthermore, the final chapter reinforces Bach’s iconic status through the gesture of a young contemporary musician who places a sticker with his portrait on his instrument case70—an emblematic act that frames the composer as a consumable icon, admired and materially reappropriated by new generations.

  • 71 P. Capriolo, A. Scandella, Maria Callas, op. cit., p. 107.

46In the case of Maria Callas, her iconicity is rendered through stylised digital illustrations, which focus on some enlarged features, such as her expressive black eyes and elegant attire. Her image is highly reproducible—repeated across the cover (see ill. 5) and other illustrations within the text71—and can be fragmented into symbolic accessories, such as her crown-like headpiece or the pearl necklace. These visual details function as cultural markers of fame, transforming Callas into a figure of great fascination.

47These two case studies reveal how artistic lives can be represented through divergent yet complementary narrative strategies: the biography of Callas is anchored in linear and model-centred structures, enriched by sacred metaphors and symbols to establish a correspondence between art and life, while Bach’s is shaped by a poetic and experimental form that privileges a polyphonic structure and emotional resonance, presenting the protagonist as a symbol of the power of artistic transmission.

Conclusions

48The selected case studies demonstrate how contemporary biographies are increasingly suggestive of complexity, embracing experimental narrative structures, such as the interplay of multiple voices and perspectives, as seen in the works dedicated to Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Galileo Galilei, and Johann Sebastian Bach. However, more traditional linear structures—such as the one adopted in the biography of Maria Callas—are still present, reflecting the continued influence of established conventions within the biographical genre.

49Even when the book’s explicit aim is to convey formative role models—as in the case of scientific biographies—text and images work together to present non-idealised representations of scientific careers, which make room for error and doubt, as well as anger and frustration. These narratives seek to connect with readers through the use of genealogical structures that symbolically open the way to new generations.

50At the same time, life writing can also focus more explicitly on eliciting an affective and emotional response, as seen in the portrayals of artistic lives, where reader engagement is fostered through a sense of fascination, conveyed by complex and contradictory role models and iconic figures, as in the case of Maria Callas, and by the poetic quality of the literary text, as exemplified in that of Bach. Identity is thus shaped through evocative portrayals in which literary and visual metaphors work together to create a layered symbolic texture that enriches both the reader’s aesthetic appreciation and interpretive depth.

51In adopting the MIS Framework as an instrument of textual and visual analysis, this study supports a nuanced reading of biography as a complex literary genre, in which the representation of outstanding figures is constructed at the intersection of literary traditions, cultural imaginaries and pedagogical values. Its tripartite structure offers a scaffold for future research, enabling comparative analyses across book series, time periods, national literatures, or target age groups.

52Ultimately, this framework not only sheds light on how lives are represented to young readers but also underscores the transformative power of biography to shape the ways in which children and adolescents encounter other identities and may envision their own future lives.

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Notes

1 Giuseppe Zago, “La biografia nella storiografia e nella storiografia dell’educazione. Linee evolutive di un rapporto complesso”, Espacio, Tiempo y Educación, vol. 3, n° 1, 2016, p. 203, URL: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=5372708.

2 Clémentine Beauvais, “Bright Pasts, Brighter Futures: Biographies for Children in the Early Twenty-First Century”, in: Nathalie op de Beeck (ed.), Literary Cultures and Twenty-First-Century Childhoods, Cham, Spinger, 2020, p. 58.

3 Ibid.

4 Daniel Hahn, History and biography, in: Daniel Hahn (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015, p. 279.

5 John F. Savil, The Juvenile Plutarch, containing accounts of the lives of children, and of the infancy of illustrious men, who have been remarkable for their early progress in knowledge, London, Tabart & Co., 1801.

6 The Parallel Lives are among the oldest collective biographies written by the Greek historian Plutarch between the late 1st century and the early 2nd century AD.

7 For an illustrative sample of the widespread production of texts inspired by Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, see, in the French context: the anonymous Plutarque, ou abrégé des vies des Hommes Illustres (1804); and Jean-François Anne Buynand, Le Plutarque de l’enfance, ou Maximes et traits historiques extraits des vies des hommes illustres de Plutarque (1810). In the Italian context, see: Carlo Castelfranchi, Il Plutarco ad uso della gioventù o sia massime e tratti storici (1812), and Giovanni Lotti, Le vite dei romani più illustri (1874), reprinted until the Fascist period.

8 G. Zago, “La biografia nella storiografia”, op. cit., p. 206.

9 Gabriella Seveso, “‘Storie della buonanotte per bambine ribelli’: un caso editoriale femminista’?, Italica Wratislaviensia, n° 16, 2025, p. 112, DOI: http://doi.org/10.15804/IW.2025.16.06.

10 Barbara Chatton, Biography, in: Bernice E. Cullinan, Diane G. Person (eds.), The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children’s Studies, New York, The K. S. Giniger Company, 2001, p. 84.

11 Kate Douglas, Children and Biography. Reading and Writing Life Stories, London, Bloomsbury, 2022, p. 8.

12 A pivotal moment was Jean Fritz’s And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? (1973), which offered an authentic biography, grounded in the belief that children deserve the same respect for historical truth as adult readers. See: Suzanne Rahn, An Evolving Past: The Story of Historical Fiction and Nonfiction for Children, The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 15, n° 1, 1991, p. 20.

13 In Italy a noteworthy example is the publisher Emme Edizioni, which concluded its catalogue in 1985 with a series of picturebook biographies by Ibi Lepscky and Paolo Cardoni that have also been translated into English, Spanish, and French. See: Chiara Malpezzi, From Queens to Rebel Girls? Biographies about Women within Italian Children’s Literature, Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature, vol. 62, n° 2, 2024, p. 27.

14 Nina Goga, “Verbal and visual informational strategies in non-fiction books awarded and mentioned by the Bologna Ragazzi Award 2009-2019”, in: Giorgia Grilli (ed.), Non-fiction picturebooks. Sharing knowledge as an aesthetic experience, Pisa, Edizioni ETS, 2020, p. 63.

15 Ibid.

16 Sinéad Moriarty, “Modeling Environmental Heroes in Literature for Children: Stories of Youth Climate Activist Greta Thunberg”, The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 45, n° 2, 2021, p. 204.

17 Joe Sutliff Sanders, A Literature of Questions. Nonfiction for the Critical Child, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2018, p. 49.

18 S. Moriarty, Modeling Environmental Heroes, op. cit., p. 200.

19 Maria Casado Villanueva, “Portrait of the artist as a complex man: Engagement and discovery in picture book biographies of poets’ lives”, in: Nina Goga, Sarah Hoem Iversen, Anne-Stefi Teigland (eds.), Verbal and Visual Strategies in nonfiction picture books: Theoretical and analytical approaches, Oslo, Scandinavian University Press, 2021, p. 124-137, DOI: https://doi.org/10.18261/9788215042459-2021-10.

20 François Dosse, Le pari biographique. Écrire une vie, Paris, Éditions la Découverte, 2005, p. 108.

21 Marnie Campagnaro, “Stepping into the World of Houses. Children’s Picture Books on Architecture”, in: N. Goga, S. H. Iversen, A.-S. Teigland (eds.), Verbal and Visual Strategies, op. cit., p. 202-219.

22 Carrie Hintz, Eric L. Tribunella, Reading Children’s Literature. A Critical Introduction, Peterborough, Broadview Press, 2019, p. 416.

23 K. Douglas, Children and Biography, op. cit., p. 3.

24 Sara Van der Haagen, “Practical Truths: Black Feminist Agency and Public Memory in Biographies for Children”, Women’s Studies in Communication, vol. 35, n° 1, 2012, p. 18-41.

25 Gale Eaton, Well-Dressed Role Models. The Portrayal of Women in Biographies for Children, Lanham, The Scarecrow Press, 2006, p. 3.

26 Federica Muzzarelli, Moderne icone di moda. La costruzione fotografica del mito, Torino, Einaudi, 2013, p. 10.

27 Konrad Onasch, Annemarie Schnieper, Icons: The Fascination and the Reality, New York, Riverside Book Company, 1997, p. 31.

28 Edgar Morin, Les stars, Paris, Le Seuil, 1957.

29 Macarena García-González, “Chasing Remarkable Lives: A Problematization of Empowerment Stories for Girls”, Journal of Literary Education [online], n° 3, 2020, p. 53, DOI: https://doi.org/10.7203/JLE.3.18165.

30 Sarah Banet-Weiser, “‘Confidence you can carry!’: Girls in Crisis and the Market for Girls’ Empowerment Organizations”, Continuum, vol. 29, n° 2, 2015, p. 188.

31 Louise Couceiro, Empowering or Responsibilising? A Critical Content Analysis of Contemporary Biographies about Women, Barnboken: Journal of Children’s Literature Research [online], vol. 45, 2022, p. 6, DOI: https://doi.org/10.14811/clr.v45.687.

32 Marco Dallari, La zattera della bellezza. Per traghettare il principio di piacere nell’avventura educativa, Trento, Il Margine, 2021, p. 43.

33 Ibid., p. 47.

34 The notion of intertextuality is adopted as the relationship between a text or image and another text or image; see Marco Dallari, In una notte di luna vuota. Educare pensieri metaforici, laterali, impertinenti, Trento, Erickson, 2008, p. 147.

35 C. Malpezzi, “From Queens to Rebel Girls?”, op. cit., p. 26.

36 Sabina Colloredo, Sonia Maria Luce Possentini, Noi, Galileo e la luna, Milano, Carthusia, 2018.

37 Chiara Carminati, Pia Valentinis, L’ultima fuga di Bach, Palermo, rueBallu, 2012.

38 Simona Cerrato, Grazia Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia. La vera vita di Marie e Irène Curie, Trieste, Editoriale Scienza, 2003.

39 Paola Capriolo, Alessandra Scandella, Maria Callas, San Dorligo della Valle (TS), EL, 2007.

40 The biography of Marie Curie inaugurates the “Donne nella Scienza” [“Women in Science] series by Editoriale Scienza, entirely dedicated to female scientists. Maria Callas’s biography appears in “Sirene” [“Mermaids”], a pioneering all-female series launched by Edizioni EL in 2002, the first in Italy to narrate women’s lives. Galileo Galilei’s biography is part of “Storie libere” [“Stories of Freedom”], published by Carthusia in collaboration with the University of Padua to mark its 800th anniversary. Finally, Johann Sebastian Bach’s biography belongs to the “Jeunesse Ottopiù” series by rueBallu, which focuses on artists and musicians and received the Andersen Prize for best editorial project in 2016.

41 S. Cerrato, G. Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia, op. cit.

42 S. Colloredo, S. M. L. Possentini, Noi, Galileo e la luna, op. cit.

43 S. Cerrato, G. Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia, op. cit., p. 79.

44 Ibid., back cover.

45 S. Colloredo, S. M. L. Possentini, Noi, Galileo e la luna, op. cit., p. 50.

46 Ibid., p. 1.

47 Ibid., p. 58.

48 Ibid.

49 S. Cerrato, G. Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia, op. cit., p. 25.

50 Ibid., p. 37.

51 “Poi mi accorgo di essermi sbagliata, è tremendo. Non ho messo in conto la possibilità dell’errore!” Ibid., p. 44.

52 S. Colloredo, S. M. L. Possentini, Noi, Galileo e la luna, op. cit., p. 17.

53 Anne Schneider, “De mulieribus illustribus: Au sujet des femmes illustres. Représentations des femmes dans les métiers scientifiques en littérature de jeunesse”, Meridian Critic, vol. 33, n° 2, 2019, p. 72.

54 S. Cerrato, G. Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia, op. cit., p. 80-81.

55 Ibid., p. 11.

56 Ibid., p. 30.

57 Ibid., p. 93.

58 C. Carminati, P. Valentinis, L’ultima fuga, op. cit.

59 P. Capriolo, A. Scandella, Maria Callas, op. cit.

60 Ibid., p. 26.

61 Ibid., p. 38.

62 Ibid., p. 48.

63 The word “queen” (in Italian regina) recurs throughout the text multiple times; see: Ibid., p. 53, p. 55, p. 60.

64 Ibid., p. 58.

65 C. Carminati, P. Valentinis, L’ultima fuga, op. cit., p. 15.

66 “la corrente sfrenata di un ruscello”, Ibid., p. 32.

67 “come un fiume che raccoglie l’acqua di tanti ruscelli”, Ibid., p. 67.

68 Chiara Carminati is a writer and poet who has collaborated with leading Italian publishers, as well as with musicians and illustrators in workshops and theatrical readings. In 2012, she was awarded the Andersen Prize as Best Author.

69 P. Capriolo, A. Scandella, Maria Callas, op. cit., p. 7.

70 C. Carminati, P. Valentinis, L’ultima fuga, op. cit., p. 109.

71 P. Capriolo, A. Scandella, Maria Callas, op. cit., p. 107.

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Table des illustrations

Légende Illustration 1: MIS Framework © Chiara Malpezzi, 2025.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/strenae/docannexe/image/12132/img-1.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 298k
Légende Illustration 2: Sabina Colloredo, Sonia Maria Luce Possentini, Noi, Galileo e la Luna, Milano, Carthusia, 2018.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/strenae/docannexe/image/12132/img-2.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 88k
Légende Illustration 3: Simona Cerrato, Grazia Nidasio, Radioattività in famiglia. La vera vita di Marie e Irène Curie, Trieste, Editoriale Scienza, 2003.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/strenae/docannexe/image/12132/img-3.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 248k
Légende Illustration 4: Chiara Carminati, Pia Valentinis, L’ultima fuga di Bach, Palermo, rueBallu, 2012.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/strenae/docannexe/image/12132/img-4.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 273k
Légende Illustration 5: Paola Capriolo, Alessandra Scandella, Maria Callas, San Dorligo della Valle (TS), EL, 2007.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/strenae/docannexe/image/12132/img-5.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 184k
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Chiara Malpezzi, « The Complexity of Biography for Young Readers »Strenæ [En ligne], 27 | 2025, mis en ligne le 20 janvier 2026, consulté le 19 février 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/strenae/12132 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/15jud

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Chiara Malpezzi

University of Padua

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