The Autobiographical Triangle – and Then What?
The essay outlines the key concepts of the universal theory of the autobiography, which I define as a “triangular” form of utterance involving three different stances: witness, confession, challenge. Witness refers to personal testimony to experiences lived through, confession to the presentation of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Groningen Press
2025-07-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Life Writing |
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| Online Access: | https://ejlw.eu/article/view/42227 |
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| _version_ | 1849428191038406656 |
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| author | Małgorzata Czermińska |
| author_facet | Małgorzata Czermińska |
| author_sort | Małgorzata Czermińska |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The essay outlines the key concepts of the universal theory of the autobiography, which I define as a “triangular” form of utterance involving three different stances: witness, confession, challenge. Witness refers to personal testimony to experiences lived through, confession to the presentation of intimate inner experience and challenge to the provocation of the reader to engage in dialogue, enter into an argument or join in a game. The three stances are always present, though usually one of them overshadows the other two. I present the prospects for the development of a variety of inspirations derived from this theory: 1) awareness not only of the existence but also of the growing significance of the stance of challenge; 2) destabilization of autobiographical place as a reference context for witness; 3) singling out of female autobiographical material and research on this topic; 4) the crisis in research on life writing in the context of the posthuman paradigm. My conclusion is a new proposal in the context of ecocriticism and animal studies: cohumanism instead of posthumanism. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7e0d7c756b1e4094953cd428c4784cf5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2211-243X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | University of Groningen Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Life Writing |
| spelling | doaj-art-7e0d7c756b1e4094953cd428c4784cf52025-08-20T03:28:47ZengUniversity of Groningen PressEuropean Journal of Life Writing2211-243X2025-07-0114TC1TC1410.21827/ejlw.14.4222731894The Autobiographical Triangle – and Then What?Małgorzata Czermińska0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6935-1031University of GdańskThe essay outlines the key concepts of the universal theory of the autobiography, which I define as a “triangular” form of utterance involving three different stances: witness, confession, challenge. Witness refers to personal testimony to experiences lived through, confession to the presentation of intimate inner experience and challenge to the provocation of the reader to engage in dialogue, enter into an argument or join in a game. The three stances are always present, though usually one of them overshadows the other two. I present the prospects for the development of a variety of inspirations derived from this theory: 1) awareness not only of the existence but also of the growing significance of the stance of challenge; 2) destabilization of autobiographical place as a reference context for witness; 3) singling out of female autobiographical material and research on this topic; 4) the crisis in research on life writing in the context of the posthuman paradigm. My conclusion is a new proposal in the context of ecocriticism and animal studies: cohumanism instead of posthumanism.https://ejlw.eu/article/view/42227autobiographical triangleautobiographical placeco-humanism |
| spellingShingle | Małgorzata Czermińska The Autobiographical Triangle – and Then What? European Journal of Life Writing autobiographical triangle autobiographical place co-humanism |
| title | The Autobiographical Triangle – and Then What? |
| title_full | The Autobiographical Triangle – and Then What? |
| title_fullStr | The Autobiographical Triangle – and Then What? |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Autobiographical Triangle – and Then What? |
| title_short | The Autobiographical Triangle – and Then What? |
| title_sort | autobiographical triangle and then what |
| topic | autobiographical triangle autobiographical place co-humanism |
| url | https://ejlw.eu/article/view/42227 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT małgorzataczerminska theautobiographicaltriangleandthenwhat AT małgorzataczerminska autobiographicaltriangleandthenwhat |