Introduction: Life Writing as Intimate Publics

Abstract

This special issue of Biography begins from the US cultural critic Lauren Berlant’s term “intimate public” to explore new constituencies of belonging in relation to life writing and life storying across media. Life writing creates affect worlds, where strangers meet through emotional connection, worlds that are economically and politically dynamic. This collection assesses them as global forms, including British televisual genealogy, post-Communist Eastern European memoir, Scottish oral history, Iranian blogging, Chinese sentimental essay, and American genomic dataset. It includes Berlant’s response, the first time she has engaged directly with life writing.