My memories of teaching classes on writing life stories are tinged with great delight for the stories I heard and deep appreciation for the writers' contributions of whimsy, intrigue, beauty in day-to-day life, and courage. For all those stories, I am grateful.
Many of my friends and colleagues share my interest in the writing of life stories or of memoirs and know of the benefits of that genre of writing. For all of you who have that interest, here are a couple of resources. These labs study life stories and you can learn more by clicking their research links.
- University of Florida Life Story Lab
- University of Twente Life Story Lab
- University of Sussex Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research
I am sure there are other labs with the same focus. Please let me know of those I have missed and I will add them to the list.
Note (added later on August 23, 2013): A couple of related links:
- "Exploring Psychological Themes Through Life-Narrative Accounts"-chapter by Dan McAdams from Varieties of Narrative Analysis
- "The Life Story Interview" by Dan McAdams
- "Personality Narratives and the Life Story"- chapter by Dan McAdams from Handbook of Personality
Comments