Paratextual Features of Constructing Autobiographical Modality in Latvian Women’s Autobiographical Writing of the 1990s
Paratextual Features of Constructing Autobiographical Modality in Latvian Women’s Autobiographical Writing of the 1990s

Summary/Abstract: Autobiographical writing has experienced a dynamic growth in significance and development in recent decades both in the European and especially East European literature. Latvian women’s autobiographical writing of the 1990s has been produced by women authors of the generation who directly experienced World War II as the central event of the 20th century European history, hence their texts provide historical evidence of a very complicated period in contemporary Latvian history. At the same time these texts function as autobiographical accounts of the girl’s childhood, interrupted by the war that further determines her life either under the occupational regime or in exile. The modality of these texts is determined by the fact that these authors feel compelled to bear historical evidence of that history, which became also a part of their lives. The present article is focused on Anita Liepa’s and Vizma Belševica’s texts regarding paratextual features that have an essential role in constructing the modality of autobiographical narrative – the construction of the paratextual frame and the use of photographs.

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