CONTEMPT FOR BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS SERIES--Sample page 1 of Humiliating Errors in Notes by John Bryant in MELVILLE'S EVERMOVING DAWN (1997)

As a participant in "Biographers on Biography" I was given a chance to correct a transcript of the forum, but not a chance to look over John Bryant's notes on the panel discussion. Here is a sample page of Bryant's notes and my comments. I felt humiliated by the errors, but the impression I got when I protested was that one Aunt Mary was as good as another. The impression I got, in fact, was that biographical details were decorations. I had by then devoted many years to a pursuit of accuracy and knew that every Melville story absolutely depended upon accuracy in transcriptions, in dating, in identification of the most minor associates. No, I was not happy when the book came on 27 September 1997, once I saw the notes on "Biographers on Biography."