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Miles is fascinated by biographies, but isn’t interested in reading the actual work of the subjects. What might this say about him?

Students with a more sympathetic reading of Miles might say that he prefers biographies because he is more interested in people than in the work they have left behind. However, a strong case can be made that this is an early indicator of the highly selective and distorted way that Miles views other people. Miles reads Edna St. Vincent Millay's biographies, but not her poetry -- in effect, he is more interested in a third-party's representation of her life than in her representation of herself, i.e., her body of work. Likewise, Miles...