Ksenofontova Nataliya Alexandrovna
– Ph.D. in history, Institute of African of RAS, head of group for gender studies
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Female Auto Documental Materials as the Mirror of Identity
The author examines samples of female auto documental materials (diaries, letters, recollections, autobiographies) written in the 18th and 19th centuries by women of different estates and social standings, family statuses and educational backgrounds. These narratives carried an enormous social and psychological load because they were not just a form of extreme self-expression and revelation of female inner world. They were, in fact, thinking twins of women who wrote them, twins that were intended to accomplish self-representation of those women’s gender (female) identity.Keywords: female auto documental genres; diaries; letters; recollections.