1st International Egodocumental Network Conference
Vilnius University, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, the University of Lodz, and the Egodocumental Research Group (https://egodocuments.umk.pl) organise an international conference focusing on research, development, and changing perceptions of egodocuments in the twenty-first century. The conference aims to bring together scholars from different disciplines to share their insights and to encourage interdisciplinary studies of egodocuments.
The conference will also be the first meeting of the International Egodocumental Network established in December 2023 by the Egodocumental Research Group (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and the University of Lodz) to unite scholars from different disciplines working on egodocuments. It provides a platform for discussion, collaboration, and exchange of information between the participants, as well as online research seminars organized twice a year. In this dimension, our conference continues two editions of the Scientific Symposium "Egodocuments, Life-Writing and Autobiographical Texts..." organized at NCU in Toruń in 2022 and 2024.
Keynote speakers
Dr. Nataliia Voloshkova
Kazimierz Wielki University and Oxford Brookes University
Prof. Leona Toker
Hebrew University and Shalem Academic College
Prof. François-Joseph Ruggiu
Sorbonne Université, CNRS and Oxford University
Solveiga Daugirdaitė
Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore
Motherhood in the Autobiographies of Lithuanian Women Writers of the 20th Century
The report focuses on the maternity representation in the autobiographies of Lithuanian women writers. Julia Kristeva noted that most women writers do not talk about their own motherhood, perhaps because most of them are not mothers, whereas those women who are mothers tend to write in order to escape the motherly world. However, the autobiography is a genre in which women can touch upon this subject from the daughter’s or mother’s perspective. The feminist debates of the 20th century challenged the concept of motherhood, and, in the 20th century, feminist debates challenged the concept of motherhood, but Soviet women did not have the opportunity to learn about the movements in the West, nor could they question their own situation. Thus, for most of the 20th century, Lithuanian women writers were forced to censor their own narratives. The research material consists of collections of autobiographies of Soviet Lithuanian writers (1957, 1967, 1977, 1989), autobiographies of emigration writers, as well as autobiographies of various other writers (Žemaitė, Janina Degutytė). The research is based on feminist critique, autobiography and motherhood studies
