230059 'Telling Li(v)es?' Politics of Memory and Experience in Autobiographical Writing (S) (SoSe 2018)

Although autobiographies are one of the most popular genres, autobiographical writing cannot readily be defined. This seminar starts with a discussion of various theoretical approaches to autobiographical writing before examining different constructions and functions of the autobiographical I in a choice of autobiographical texts. Startig with 'classical' autobiographies of great men such as Benjamin Franklin, we will also take a look at how autoethnographic texts by speakers from the discursive margins authorize their voices e.g. in slave narratives and testimonios – thus questioning the received paradigms of the genre. We will also discuss the genre's pecualiar situatedness between 'fact' and 'fiction' and 'experience' and 'narration'.

Literaturangaben

Preliminary reading/Books to be ordered:

- Benjamin Franklin. The Autobiography. (Excerpt from The Norton Anthology)
- Harriet Jacobs. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. (Excerpt from The Norton Anthology)
- Gertrude Stein. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
- Rigoberta Menchú/Elisabeth Burgos Debray. I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala (Excerpt)
- Barack Obama. Dreams of My Father and The Audacity of Hope (Excerpts)
- Donald Trump. The Art of the Deal (Exceprts)

A reader and a detailed reading list will be available in the Lernraum of the ekkV at the beginning of the semester.