LMKB_a214 Autobiography and Autofiction

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2020
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Zuzana Fonioková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Zuzana Fonioková, Ph.D.
Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Eva Zachová
Supplier department: Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Tue 12:00–13:40 B2.34
Prerequisites
Students must be able to read scholarly texts in English.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 22 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 1/22, only registered: 0/22, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/22
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 15 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The subject aims to outline the basic theoretical concepts that deal with autobiography and autofiction, as well as apply these concepts in the analysis of concrete texts. The course shall also introduce the questions of narrative construction of identity, and autobiografical memory.
Learning outcomes
After the completion of the subject, the student will be able:
- to explain the basic theoretical concepts of autobiography and autofiction;
- to apply these concepts in the analysis of autobiographical texts;
- to grasp individual, psychological and philosofical, understanding of narrative construction of identity;
- to describe the basic elements of autobiographical memory;
- to reflect upon their own work of autobiographical stories.
Syllabus
  • Introduction to the study of autobiographies and autofictions
  • Philippe Lejeune and the concept of autobiographical pact
  • Autobiographical memory
  • Narrative identity I: Paul Ricoeur
  • Episodic situations in our lives (Ivan M. Havel)
  • Bohumil Hrabal’s “writing about oneself” (Dopisy Dubence etc.)
  • Narrative identity II: the perspective of narrative psychology
  • Film autobiography - Nick Cave: 20,000 Days on Earth
  • Identity in the social network era; Paul John Eakin: "Self and Self-Representation Online and Off"
  • Graphic memoirs - Marjane Satrapi and Alison Bechdel
  • Autobiographies from the perspective of gender
Literature
    recommended literature
  • SMITH, Sidonie and Julia WATSON. Reading autobiography : a guide for interpreting life narratives. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010, xiv, 394. ISBN 9780816669868. info
  • EAKIN, Paul John. How our lives become stories : making selves. 1st pub. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999, xii, 207. ISBN 9780801436598. info
    not specified
  • Identity technologies :constructing the self online. Edited by Anna Poletti - Julie Rak. 1 online r. ISBN 9780299296438. info
  • EAKIN, Paul John. Self and Self-Representation Online and Off. In FRAME, Journal of Literary Studies 28:1, 2015.
  • Ivan M. HAVEL - "Epizodické situace našeho života", in B. VELICKÝ et al., Spor o přirozený svět, Filosofia: Praha 2010, s. 213-237
  • RICŒUR, Paul. O sobě samém jako o jiném. Translated by Milan Lyčka. Vydání první. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2016, 407 stran. ISBN 9788072984381. info
  • CHANSKY, Ricia Anne. The Routledge autobiography studies reader. Edited by Emily Hipchen. First published. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016, xxii, 351. ISBN 9781138904767. info
  • Graphic womenlife narrative and contemporary comics. Edited by Hillary L. Chute. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010, xiii, 297. ISBN 9780231521574. info
  • EAKIN, Paul John. Living autobiographically : how we create identity in narrative. 1st pub. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2008, xvii, 184. ISBN 9780801447242. info
  • SCHACTER, Daniel L. Sedm hříchů paměti : jak si pamatujeme a zapomínáme. Translated by František Koukolík. Vyd. 1. Praha: Paseka, 2003, 270 s. ISBN 8071855553. info
  • OLNEY, James. Memory & narrative : the weave of life-writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998, xvi, 430. ISBN 0226628167. info
  • Women, autobiography, theory : a reader. Edited by Sidonie Smith - Julia Watson. Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1998, xi, 526. ISBN 0299158446. info
  • LEJEUNE, Philippe. Le pacte autobiographique. Nouv. éd., augm. [Paris]: Éditions du Seuil, 1996, 381 s. ISBN 2020042932. info
  • SCHACTER, Daniel L. Searching for memory : the brain, the mind, and the past. New York: Basic Books, 1996, xiii, 398. ISBN 9780465075522. info
  • EAKIN, Paul John. Fictions in autobiography : studies in the art of self-invent. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985, ix, 288. ISBN 9780691601939. info
Teaching methods
Each seminar consists of a student’s presentation of a concrete autobiographical work, an introduction to the seminar’s topic by the teacher, as well as a discussion on the texts set as compulsory reading before the seminar. Creative tasks, such as personal writing or reflection on autobiographically tuned discourses as part of the discussion, shall be also expected on some of the seminars.
Assessment methods
presentation on an assigned topic and an oral colloquium OR a 5-page essay on a topic of the student's own choice and an oral colloquium; the colloquium involves a discussion about the topics and texts dealt with in the seminars
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
General note: Předmět bude otevřen a vyučován při minimálním počtu 6 zapsaných studujících.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2020, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2020/LMKB_a214