“Confusions about the place and the way in which I grew up”: Place and Knowledge in Joan Didion’s Memoir Where I Was From

Authors

  • Alexandra Wagner

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5283/copas.137

Abstract

This essay is a close reading of Joan Didion’s memoir Where I Was From“ (2003), and it is particularly focused on the spatial aspects of Didion’s narrative. I am arguing that the production of autobiographical knowledge in this text is closely linked to the places the narrator is referring to and in which she positions herself. Furthermore, this essay aims at illustrating that Didion’s narrative itself functions as a genre-specific site for the production of autobiographical knowledge.

Author Biography

Alexandra Wagner

Alexandra Wagner, M.A. is currently writing her doctoral thesis “Knowledge in Autobiographical Texts“ at Humboldt University Berlin, Department of English an American Studies (http://www.angl.hu-berlin.de/students/phd/disswagner). She has been a lecturer at the Department of English and American Studies at HU Berlin since 2008 (courses about autobiography and first person narrators). Currently she is teaching the seminar “American Cultural Studies.“ Alexandra has studied American Studies and New German Literature in Berlin and at the University of Washington, Seattle, where she was enrolled as a visiting graduate student and teaching assistant. Alexandra has given presentations about autobiography, genre theory and narrative at several national and international conferences (Conference of the International Association of Germanic Studies in Warsaw, 2010; Postgraduate Forum 2010, Leipzig; 9th Annual Students and Graduate Conference, Humboldt University Berlin; Annual Convention of the Modern Language Association (MLA) 2011, Los Angeles).

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How to Cite

Wagner, Alexandra. “‘Confusions about the Place and the Way in Which I Grew up’: Place and Knowledge in Joan Didion’s Memoir Where I Was From”. Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies, vol. 12, May 2012, doi:10.5283/copas.137.

Issue

Vol. 12 (2011)

Section

Articles

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Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.