Kim Schoof

Kim Schoof is a PhD candidate in literary studies and philosophy at Open University, The Netherlands. Engaging mainly with the writings of Judith Butler and Lauren Berlant, her project reconceptualizes relationality in contemporary life-writing, arguing that relationality is best situated not in life-writing’s content (its depictions of an author’s relationships with others) but in its form (its ways of relating to generic conventions). Life-writing’s relationality, her project attempts to show, works as the fuel behind the generic innovations necessary for expressions of different aspects of the human condition.

As a visiting doctoral student, Kim will continue working on her current case study: Anne Boyer’s breast cancer memoir The Undying (2019). In addition, she will be organizing a reading-group, meeting on 23 Jan/6 Feb/20 Feb/6 Mar 2023, on the topic of autofiction and the writings of the twentieth-century French writer/philosopher Maurice Blanchot: a joined attempt will be made at extracting a meaningful perspective on autofiction as a literary genre from Blanchot’s work. All are very welcome to sign up and join!

An overview of Kim’s work as literary critic and essayist, in English and Dutch, can be found on her website kimschoof.nl.