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Document Details :

Title: Fictionaliteit en universaliteit in levensverhalen
Author(s): MISSINNE, Lut
Journal: Spiegel der Letteren
Volume: 59    Issue: 1   Date: 2017   
Pages: 65-86
DOI: 10.2143/SDL.59.1.3259730

Abstract :
This article tries to answer the question if and how the reading of life narratives can be regarded as a cognitive process. It does not focus on the content of life writing, but on literary devices about a personal life as a possible cognitive tool. I argue that through universalizing devices life narratives get detached from the specific direct reference to the existing realities. This process of fictionalisation supports a de-individualized reading of a life narrative. The novels analysed are Austerlitz (2001) by W.G. Sebald and the autobiographical De Walsenkoning (1993) by Louis Ferron.

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