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
Gitana Vanagaitė
Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore
Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas: The Manifestation of the ‘I’ between Aesthetic and Life Reality
The life and work of the Lithuanian literary classic Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas (1893– 1967) are marked by his belonging to different political eras: the era of independent Lithuania and the periods of the German and two Soviet occupations. Additionally, Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas wrote in almost all genres of the egodocumentary literature: memoirs, autobiography, diary, autobiographical novel, and letters. This presentation will explore the concept of the ‘I’ formed in these ego-documentary works by focusing on the periods of the German occupation and the second Soviet occupation, as well as the aesthetic reflection of that time in the wartime poetry collection Rūsčios dienos. The poems from this collection circulated in transcripts during the German and the second Soviet occupations and served as evidence in cases of imprisonment. The prisoners who suffered under Soviet repression had ambivalent feelings toward Mykolaitis-Putinas’ attitude, ranging from condemnation to testimonies about his various forms of help, particularly regarding the significant supportive value of his poetry. The presentation will attempt to reveal how these different dimensions of Mykolaitis-Putinas’ thought (aesthetics) and life (egodocumentary) are interconnected, while correcting/complementing each other, and how they can be integrated with the memories of other people.
