Introduction

The “Introduction” outlines the main themes and questions explored in subsequent chapters, focusing on Polish-language women’s autobiographical writing. It highlights daughters’ autobiographical practices, where they write about their mothers and families following a specific convention to create a literary family archive. This convention often involves crafting a phantom genealogy due to the impossibility of reconstructing family histories. By merging different memories and stories, authors construct a mosaic of narratives that reshape their identities and family histories. This feedback loop impacts their biographical experiences, blending facts with narrativized representations.