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
Birutė Avižinienė
The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore
Identity Puzzle in the Diary of Ona Pleirytė-Puidienė
The paper focuses on the diary of the Lithuanian writer Ona Pleirytė-Puidienė (1882–1936). The author referred to her diary as the “Book of My Life”, regarding it as the primary text of her existence. The text was written for an ideal reader of the future, presumed to be more intelligent, more cultured, and better able to understand the writer. Ona Pleirytė-Puidienė selected and presented to him those moments of her daily life and activities that had been overlooked by her contemporaries. Despite this active shaping of her own identity, the text also captures aspects of her identity that the writer does not specifically record and reflect upon. These are essential elements in the formation of identity, firstly, a national origin (she was born in Latvia, in the town of Mintauja, present-day Jelgava), which provides a separate perspective from which the writer evaluates the political and cultural events described. Another topic that will be addressed in this paper is the writer’s sexual identity (asexuality), which presented challenges in her family life. Additionally, the writer’s desire to exert control over her surroundings and her physical and mental health issues are manifested, which resulted in frequent conflicts with her environment and, subsequently, her marginalisation from society. The tension between the image she aims to portray to her ideal reader and the identity portrait she unintentionally creates will be a central focus of my presentation.
