Life writing?

[icedwithoatmilk]

Is anyone else primarily interested in life writing? I'm surprised how many departments have no one or just one person working on life writing or auto/biography, and I'd really like to keep it a focus for me-- I'm definitely applying to Hawaii but want to make sure I'm not missing any other obvious choices. If you also work on life writing, where are you applying/do you attend? 

[illcounsel]

This may be an obvious thing to point out, but is there a particular period, country, or other factor you are most interested in with life writing? If you prefer to study contemporary American memoirs of the South, you want to apply to programs that have strong contemporary American/Southern studies scholars. If you are most interested in queer life writing, you want to apply to programs that have faculty working in queer studies. If you are most interested in early modern life writing, you want to apply to programs with strong early modern scholars (and so on). Since life writing is such a broad category, it is worth narrowing it down to what type of life writing is most interesting to you. You don't necessarily need a professor who specializes in life writing to guide your dissertation, but folks who are in the same period/place/or area of specialization. 

[bakelmion]

Have you taken a look at WashU? https://english.wustl.edu/life-writing

They have Kathleen Finneran, Edward McPherson, Melanie Micir, Vivian Pollak, and Rafia Zafar.

[whichazel]

hi I'm also thinking of going into life-writing (autobiography in particular) and facing the similar problem - there are plenty of choices in the UK, but in the US I know v little about and have found also very few choices. The other I know is CUNY? 

[icedwithoatmilk]

On 11/2/2021 at 2:00 AM, whichazel said:

hi I'm also thinking of going into life-writing (autobiography in particular) and facing the similar problem - there are plenty of choices in the UK, but in the US I know v little about and have found also very few choices. The other I know is CUNY? 

Hmm yeah it's interesting you mention the UK because I also feel like it's less common of a subfield in the US than the rest of the Anglophone world. But alas. CUNY is a good one! It's hard because some places will have like one person working on autobio, or a couple people working on it but as part of a bigger period/area specialization. And I feel like that's not that helpful unless they are also really engaging with theoretical issues around life writing, not just using life writing to answer particular questions about a period/area, do you know what I mean?

[zetasp]

On 10/12/2021 at 4:23 AM, icedwithoatmilk said:

Is anyone else primarily interested in life writing? I'm surprised how many departments have no one or just one person working on life writing or auto/biography, and I'd really like to keep it a focus for me-- I'm definitely applying to Hawaii but want to make sure I'm not missing any other obvious choices. If you also work on life writing, where are you applying/do you attend? 

Hey! I actually work at the UHM Center for Biographical Research. Let me know if you want to get in touch and I can tell you more about the program and faculty! From the work I do, a lot of the bigger programs aren't in the US - many are in Australia, the UK, Canada, and some other European countries. I'd say UHM is good, too, for anyone look at both a theoretical and creative approach - we're one of the few universities that offers a PhD in creative writing.

[icedwithoatmilk]

40 minutes ago, zetasp said:

Hey! I actually work at the UHM Center for Biographical Research. Let me know if you want to get in touch and I can tell you more about the program and faculty! From the work I do, a lot of the bigger programs aren't in the US - many are in Australia, the UK, Canada, and some other European countries. I'd say UHM is good, too, for anyone look at both a theoretical and creative approach - we're one of the few universities that offers a PhD in creative writing.

Ah thanks!! I just sent in my application  so I'll definitely reach out if I hear something good back! I've def seen what you're saying about bigger programs not being in the US...