Lecture by Sara Gomel

Lecture by Sara Gomel: From Enclosure to Disclosure: Images of the Self in Etty Hillesum’s diary

Thursday, 25th March 2021, 19:30 – 20:30

Abstract

Self-narration has often been perceived as a narcissistic display of the self, a rupture from the outside world. Etty Hillesum’s diary has not been spared the accusation, though being the setting of an opposite process, where narrative and ethics mingle: the “dis-closure” of the Self, which enables the encounter with the other. This process of transformation from enclosure to disclosure is mirrored by the images Hillesum employs to portray the Self, images which are at first restricted, personal, and limited, and will, with time, evolve into wider, more open ones.

About the speaker

Sara Gomel (1993) received her master’s degree in Philosophy at the University of Rome la Sapienza, with a thesis on self-narration and ethics in Etty Hillesum’s diaries. For her thesis, she spent two months at the Etty Hillesum Research Centre  in Middelburg. The result of this research was the publication of the book Parole mie con voce tua, („My words, your voice“) in 2020. She received her bachelor degree in Philosophy at the University of Paris 1 – Panthéon La Sorbonne in 2015. Since the beginning of her studies, she has been working on educational and social projects for children and more specifically on projects of philosophy for children in schools and museums.