Inhaltspezifische Aktionen

GCSC KNL l Prof. Dr. Timothy C. Baker (University of Aberdeen, UK) "Rereading Childhood: Autobiography, Criticism, and Memory"

Wann

04.06.2025 von 18:00 bis 20:00 (Europe/Berlin / UTC200)

Wo

MFR GCSC Otto-Behaghel Str. 12 / Online (BBB)

Termin zum Kalender hinzufügen

iCal

 

All literary criticism is to some extent autobiographical: the way we select and analyse texts says as much about us at the works themselves. Authorship can be seen as an act of rereading as much as writing, and tracks our own changing relationships with texts over time. Likewise, many current writers are explicitly choosing to blur the lines between literary criticism and memoir to show how the categories of reader and writer always overlap. In this session Timothy C. Baker will be reading from and discussing their recent hybrid memoir Reading My Mother Back: A Memoir in Childhood Animal Stories, in which they revisit children’s classics to tell a story of grief, trauma, and family secrets. Baker’s memoir tells the story of his mother’s life, and death, through the animal stories they shared, both familiar and less-well-known. The memoir touches on memory, loneliness, disability, and religion, and shows how literature can provide a way to understand our experiences and connect with what we have lost. Reading My Mother Back offers a bold and personal view of why the stories we read, share, and write about matter.