The style or method of biographical writing pioneered by James Boswell, characterized by detailed recording of conversations and intimate personal details.
From Boswell plus the suffix '-ism' (indicating a practice, system, or characteristic style). This nominalization emphasizes the approach as a distinct methodology rather than just a quality.
Creating an '-ism' from someone's name is one of English's ways of saying 'this person's approach is so important it needs its own name'—think Marxism or Darwinism. Boswellism showed that biography could be as important as history.
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