Supervisor: Triantafyllos H. Kotopoulos
Title: From Silence to Narrative: The “impersonal”or “collective” autobiography as a means of managing trauma, socila crutique and deconstruvtion of social tereotypes
Three-member advisory comitee:
- Triantafyllos H. Kotopoulos
- Georgia Kalogirou
- Vassilios Sabatakakis
Abstract:
The “impersonal” or “collective” autobiography as a literary subgenre constitutes a setting of “cosmogony” in the sense that extreme experiential situations push the discourse beyond its usual representational functions.
The aim of this proposal is to explore the way in which autobiography, especially in the forms of “impersonal” or “collective” auto-narrative, functions as a tool for managing personal trauma. At the same time, it examines the use of these narrative practices as a means of social critique and deconstruction of social stereotypes, focusing on how personal experience can be transformed into a collective narrative that engages in political and social critique. Our research unfolds the autobiographical discourse of writers who, having personal traumatic experiences as a starting point for creation, invent a hybrid literary personal genre, the “impersonal” or “collective” autobiography, a genre variety that engages in social and political critique, particularly in terms of its advocacy for the “we,” as it is projected and/or pursued through the exposure of the “I,” as these creators, through their personal stories, fight for fundamental human rights.
