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Life Writing: Genres of Memory

Dr Joanne Sayner

Dr Joanne Sayner

Date: 19 March 2013

Time: 17:15

Location: Room 0.03, 60 Park Place, Cardiff

Dr Joanne Sayner (University of Birmingham)


This paper takes as its case study the life writings of one woman, Greta Kuckhoff, an anti-Nazi resistance fighter who spent thirty years reworking her life story in different genres and media. It suggests that through repetition of her life narrative in different forms, Kuckhoff created a genre of antifascism which challenged the dominant narratives of the ruling powers in the GDR. It analyses the processes of remediation of her story and the involvement of others in the contentious representation of histories of antifascist resistance. It argues that a focus on life-writing provides a timely corrective to contemporary debates about remembering former East Germany.

All Welcome

This event has been organised by our Languages, Cultures and Identities Research Unit.

Jenny Hulin

Position: Postgraduate Research Officer
Telephone: +44(0)29 2087 4885