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Many biographies have title (or subtext) in the form 'A life of X.' But no matter how many times I've seen that, it still sounds so wrong. What do you think?
A latest example is one with the subtext on the cover: 'A life of Abraham Lincoln.' The book is about the influences on Lincoln's political views by the father figures of history- but not quite a really narrow aspect of Lincoln as distinct from others.
There is this other similar and perhaps more modern form, which would yield 'Lincoln, a life.' That makes a lot more sense, except the current subject could be too august for that- just a life among many others, only significant enough for biography.
I've seen it both ways, and I think it's probably the author's choice based on how presumptuous they want to sound.
As a main title: "The Life of Comrade Stalin" sounds just fine to me. "A Life of Comrade Stalin" sounds wrong, since Stalin only had one life, despite claims to the effect that he was schizoid. 
But as a subtitle: "The Biography of a Dictator" sounds presumptuous, as though the author is claiming it's THE definitive biography. Writing "A Biography of a Dictator" acknowledges the fact that others have written on the same topic, so it just sounds more humble.
Likewise less presumptuous would be the title: "A Biography of Comrade Stalin," with the subtitle "The Military Perspective." Here the author acknowledges that other perspectives on Stalin's biography exist.
As an autobiography, however, a subtitle like "The Autobiography of a Dictator" or "My Life as a Dictator" would sound perfectly reasonable.
I think it comes down to the author's deference to others who have written on the same or similar topic.
Heimhenge writes " “A Life of Comrade Stalin” sounds wrong, since Stalin only had one life." Stalin had but one life, but there is a sense in which "life" means, simply, a biography. Vasari wrote "The Lives of the Artists" and Butler "The Lives of the Saints" without meaning to imply that any of their subjects had more than one life.
"Life: a history of the acts and events of a life: a biography" (Webster's, 1930) A "life" in this sense is not the thing lived, but an account of it, and the indefinite article does nothing more than suggest, perhaps even modestly, that other accounts might be written.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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