57162 Memory and Life Writing

Description

The study and writing of a life is now one of the most popular and dynamic fields in non-fiction scholarship. This subject introduces students to the interdisciplinary study of life writing in forms such as biography, autobiography, family history, oral history, memoir and engages with the critical and methodological issues raised by these various approaches. In scoping the field, this subject engages with central issues of memory, agency, identity, self-representation, and so on. Life writing can encapsulate the relation between the individual and society, the local and the national, the past and present, and the public and private experience. Through its various activities, the subject aims to air such topics for both academic and 'general' audiences, especially through a consideration of how life writing contributes to our broader cultural heritage.

Typical availability

Spring session, City campus