I would not necessarily seek out a biography of Tom Stoppard, renowned as he may be and as interesting as his life has been and is (and tragically more so than even he realised for a long time); but when the biographer is Hermione Lee one’s curiosity must be piqued, and for reasons as noted in this very good piece in The New York Times in anticipation of the forthcoming release of Tom Stoppard – A Life in the United States. Firstly, while she has previously brought her craft only to women and secondly, only to the dead; Stoppard doesn’t fit the bill on either of those counts. It should also be said Stoppard pointedly sought out Lee, and not just because she is the best, but because he wanted it to be read – which sort of suggests he may have been thinking of a reader like me.
The NYT piece is about the Stoppard work to be sure, but more generally it is also very enlightening about Hermione Lee’s way of telling a life – ways (pl.) really, because for each she works at adopting a voice particular to that of her subject. The book has actually been out for some time in the UK, and this review in The Guardian is well worth a read.