Biography of X
{{Short description|2023 novel by Catherine Lacey}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book
| italic title =
| name = Biography of X
| image = Biography of X.jpg
| caption = First edition cover
| author = Catherine Lacey
| language = English
| publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux
| pub_date = 2023
}}
Biography of X is a 2023 alternative history novel by American writer Catherine Lacey published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
The novel purports to be a 2005 biography of the musician and artist X, written by her widow, C.M. Lucca, as a response to an unauthorized and apparently inaccurate biography of her wife written after her death. The novel takes place in an alternate timeline in which the Southern states of the United States seceded in 1945 after building a wall segregating them from the rest of the country.
Writing and publication
Lacey initially wanted to write a biography of a living person, but was encouraged not to do so by one of her teachers.{{cite news |last1=Inman |first1=Amanda Paige |title=How Catherine Lacey Crafted Her Intricate, Genre-Bending New Novel |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/catherine-lacey-biography-of-x-interview |access-date=21 March 2023 |work=Vogue |date=21 March 2023}} Lacey ceased working on the biography, and instead decided to work on a fictional biography. The book includes fictional citations and end notes; Lacey, for the most part, devised these as she wrote the novel rather than after she was finished.{{cite news |last1=Terry |first1=Shayne |title="I Had to Have a Different America:" An Interview with Catherine Lacey about "Biography of X" |url=https://chireviewofbooks.com/2023/03/22/biography-of-x/ |access-date=22 March 2023 |work=Chicago Review of Books |date=22 March 2023}} To track "timelines and characters" as she wrote the book, Lacey utilized a "disorganized document". Copy editors at Farrar, Straus and Giroux assisted Lacey as she produced the novel.
To write the novel, Lacey read a number of biographies and read interviews with artists from different disciplines.{{cite news |last1=Gunther |first1=Molly |title=In Conversation: Catherine Lacey |url=https://vagabondcitylit.com/2022/03/21/in-conversation-catherine-lacey/ |access-date=21 March 2023 |work=VAGABOND CITY |date=21 March 2022 |language=en}}
Reception
According to literary review aggregator Book Marks, the novel received reviews the site characterized as "Rave" and "Positive".{{cite web |title=Biography of X |url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/biography-of-x/ |website=Book Marks |publisher=Literary Hub |access-date=21 March 2023}} It received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews,{{Cite web |date=2023-01-11 |title=Biography of X |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/catherine-lacey/biography-of-x/ |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=Kirkus Reviews}} Library Journal,{{Cite web |last=Rohrbaugh |first=Lisa |date=2022-12-01 |title=Biography of X |url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/biography-of-x-1793921 |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=Library Journal}} and Publishers Weekly.{{Cite web |date=2023-01-10 |title=Biography of X by Catherine Lacey |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374606176 |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=Publishers Weekly}}
Dwight Garner, in a positive review in The New York Times, compared Lacey's writing to that of Renata Adler and Janet Malcolm.{{cite news |last1=Garner |first1=Dwight |title='Biography of X' Rewrites a Life Story and an American Century |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/20/books/catherine-lacey-biography-of-x.html |access-date=23 March 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=20 March 2023}} Sam Sacks praised the "audacity" of Biography of X in a review published by The Wall Street Journal.{{cite news |last1=Sacks |first1=Sam |title=Fiction: 'Biography of X' by Catherine Lacey |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/fiction-book-review-biography-of-x-by-catherine-lacey-63b65f56 |access-date=23 March 2023 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=17 March 2023}} Sacks further wrote that the novel was "likely" to give Lacey "a much wider audience" and wrote that she "deserved" a broader base of readers. In a review published by The Los Angeles Times, Jessica Ferri praised Lacey as "one of the most fearless novelists writing today".{{cite news |last1=Ferri |first1=Jessica |title=Step aside, Lydia Tár: Novelist Catherine Lacey presents the ultimate art monster |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2023-03-20/move-over-lydia-tar-catherine-laceys-novel-biography-of-x-has-a-real-art-monster |access-date=18 April 2023 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=20 March 2023}}
Audrey Wollen, writing for The New Yorker, referred to the novel as "[acting] more as a blender than a quilt-maker" in reference to Lacey's inclusion of real-life figures and quotes, re-contextualized in the novel's alternate history.{{cite magazine |last1=Wollen |first1=Audrey |title=Catherine Lacey's Provocative Novel in Disguise |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/catherine-laceys-provocative-novel-in-disguise |access-date=8 May 2023 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=2 May 2023}}
Publishers Weekly included Biography of X in their list of the top ten books of 2023.{{Cite web |title=Best Books 2023 |url=https://best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2023/top-10 |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=Publishers Weekly}} The novel won the 2023 Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize for fiction.{{Cite web |title=Brooklyn Public Library Announces 2023 Book Prize Winners |url=https://www.bklynlibrary.org/media/press/brooklyn-public-library-126 |access-date=2024-01-10 |website=Brooklyn Public Library}}
In March 2024, The Atlantic included Biography of X in its list of "Great American Novels" that have been published in the past century.{{Cite web |date=14 March 2024 |title=The Great American Novels |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2024/03/best-books-american-fiction/677479/ |access-date=15 March 2024 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}} In the same month, Biography of X was nominated for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction{{cite web |url=https://www.them.us/story/lambda-literary-awards-2024-shortlist-announcement |title=Announcing the Finalists for the 36th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |work=them. |date=2024-03-27 |access-date=2024-04-05 }} which it later won.{{Cite web |last=Sobhan |first=Athena |date=2024-06-12 |title=2024 Lambda Literary Awards - See the Complete List of Winners |url=https://people.com/2024-lambda-literary-awards-see-the-complete-list-of-winners-8662165 |access-date=2024-06-15 |website=People |language=en |archive-date=June 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615095824/https://people.com/2024-lambda-literary-awards-see-the-complete-list-of-winners-8662165 |url-status=live }}