We encourage all researchers interested in egodocuments and egodocumentality to join our newsletter. This initiative aims to spread information about our research across Europe and possibly worldwide. The newsletter will be e-mailed once a month (or as needed). Each network member can send us information about their activities, ideas, new publications, projects, and conferences that we will include in the letter.

We hope that the egodocumental network will improve communication between researchers and give new opportunities to start international cooperation.

If you are interested in receiving our newsletter or want to publish some information, please contact us via e-mail at egodocuments@umk.pl. Information to resend should be in English.

Newsletter 4/2024

We are happy to present you with the newest newsletter, in which we will share the latest developments in research and academic life in the field of egodocuments.

Network News

The Network's primary goal is to promote research based on the egodocuments and spread information about current research, publications, and trends in different countries. We also want to make it easier to contact researchers interested in similar topics to create opportunities for taking joint research and applying for grants.

The General Network Meeting took place on 19 June. Among the topics discussed were plans for the development of the network – its short-term and long-term goals:

Information about egodocumental research

In the short term, we decided to start publishing information about the newest and most influential publications in the field of egodocuments, as well as the most recent research on our website (https://egodocuments.umk.pl/). So please send us bibliographical notes about publications from each country and information about the research conducted. At the moment, we do not plan to create separation per country on the website and the information about research/events/publications/projects that you provide us will appear in the general section. We encourage your to submit general information on research and egodocumental initiatives conducted in your countries.

Information about network members

A gentle reminder to those who want to publish their research profile on the Network’s website to facilitate communication and interconnection – please fill out the attached form and send it back to us by 15 September. It will also be published on https://egodocuments.umk.pl/. The template includes last and first name, academic title and position, affiliation, period of interest, keywords, remarks, and e-mail. It also comprises the GDPR statement, which must be completed in order to publish the information online. If you are interested in publishing your profile on our website, please send us back a signed scan of the template to e-mail: egodocuments@umk.pl.

European database of egodocuments

One of the critical long-term goals signaled of the Egodocumental Network was the creation of a European database of egodocuments. In the first stage, the Egodocumental Research Team asks the network participants to submit to us known databases and webpages of egodocuments to be added to the Network’s webpage to facilitate access. In the future, we will apply for funding for a professional database and infrastructure to gather and publish information about known and newly identified documents.

Webpage

The Egodocumental Research Group Website will in the coming months undergo updates in order to make it more user-friendly. It will include the abovementioned information on personal profiles, Network’s news etc, and allow the publishing and filtering of information.

Egodocumental Network Conference

Another goal that was agreed on at the General Meeting was the launch of the recurring Egodocumental Network Conference. The first conference will take place on 24-26 April 2025 in Vilnius, Lithuania, under the title: “Egodocuments from Medieval Codex to Modern Media: Narratives, Presentations, Identities”. The submission deadline is 31 October 2024. See details: CFP. We want to thank colleagues from Vilnius University for hosting the first conference.

Our colleagues from the Université de Lausanne in Switzerland offered to host the second conference. While the first conference will have a more general character, each subsequent conference will have a specific theme to highlight various aspects of egodocumental research.

News

**Publication Project: Companion for Egodocuments (Brill)**

Currently, some members of the Network are engaged in writing contributions for Companion for Egodocuments, which will be submitted to the series Egodocuments and History at Brill. It aims to present the variety of egodocumental sources and approaches available to satisfy various research interests. The editors responsible for the publication are Michaël Green and Michael Mascuch.

New publications by the members of the network:

We received the review of Claudia Ulbrich, “Wolfgang Schamoni (2016): Erinnerung und Selbstdarstellung. Autobiographisches Schreiben im Japan des 17. Jahrhunderts. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz (IZUMI 15)“, in BUNRON. Zeitschrift für literaturwissenschaftliche Japanforschung. See attached. Download: Review
„Egodokumenty – samoświadectwa – egodokumentalność. Teoria i praktyka” [Egodocuments - Life-writing – Egodocumentality. Theory and practice], eds. Waldemar Chorążyczewski, Hadrian Ciechanowski, Wojciech Piasek, Stanisław Roszak, publisher Nicolaus Copernicus University Press, Toruń 2024, ss. 394. Publication can be found here: publication.

As always, we look forward to your information about any publication, grant, conference, workshop, search for collaborators, or any other information or request you would like to share with the network members. Please send us a description (in English) and materials to egodocuments@umk.pl. We will be pleased to share them with the network.

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