ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the limits of life writing in part because, while the concept is crucial to life-writing studies, its thematisation has often only been implicit and/or part of a wider project. The rise of social media has made auto/biographical representation ubiquitous. Such forms of representation are often the source of considerable cultural anxiety. Social media, mobile networks and smart devices mean that life writing is not only ubiquitous, but also instantaneous and trans-medial. The book offers insights not only into Joe Sacco and his graphic journalism, but also the ways in which life writing's ‘limits’ can be found in narratives concerning migration and geo-political history. It also focuses on Holocaust life writing attends to a historical trauma that is often seen as a limit case for not only life-writing practice, but also historical understanding and human experience generally.
