Life Writing and the Claims of Truth

Life writing means writing the story of life. If it is the recording of selves, memories, past incidents, events and experiences, whether one's own or another's. So in this enterprise the chief raw material one uses is ‘story’—one’s life is a story and it is worth narrating because it is necessarily different from every other’s life. In view of the widespread popularity of 'Life writings' on the one hand and less critical attention to its various forms in India compared to the West on the other hand, this volume attempts to map out the rich unexplored territories for the edification of the students, scholars and the large number of general readers who account for the intellectual discourses on auto/biography. It includes articles chosen from the UGC-sponsored National seminar held at Karanjia (Autonomous) College, Mayurbhanj, Odisha. The articles are contributed by erudite scholars all over the country. This volume will surely help to understand how to approach the autobiographical works of writers and place these in specific hermeneutic and cultural context.