Writing Selves. From Diaries to Web Blogs

Kursbeschreibung / -kommentar

The tradition of keeping diaries or journals goes back many centuries and is common in many cultures. With the rapid development in IT and communication technologies, this particular form of "life writing" has received a major boost in recent years. Whether we look at the sprawling of web-based blogs or online diaries, the evergrowing popularity of platforms such as facebook, studi-VZ or visual presentation of the self in channels such as youtube, the need to share with the wider world one's experiences of everyday life seems to be growing continuously in a world of growing geographical mobility and progressing "individualization" (Beck).
In this course, we will familiarise ourselves with the tradition of "writing selves" by studying a number of selected primary texts (diaries, journals, blogs) from the 17th century to the present day, alongside a theoretical introduction to the concept of "life writing".
Literatur
Students interested in taking this course should start reading the diary of Samuel Pepys (1660-1667), either in print or from the web: http://www.pepysdiary.com/ during the semester break. Other relevant texts will be introduced in the first session of the seminar