This article considers the ethical dimension of biographical writing and the mechanisms of poeticization of narratives about other people’s lives. The following biographies are interpreted: Sontag. Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser, and Stanisław Lem. Wypędzony z Wysokiego Zamku [Stanisław Lem. Banished from the High Castle] by Agnieszka Gajewska. The authors’ biographical practices, inscribed in the network of relations in the auto/biographical field, are analyzed. The issues of poetics and ethics of reception strategies, critical reception and publishing conditions are also addressed.

Keywords: biographical literature, ethical writing, auto/biographical poetics, self-creation, de-masking, reception strategies