Autobiography in the digital world. Autobiographical project Я, Ніна by Janina Sokolova

The article concerns the multimedial, autobiographical project named Ja, Nina ("Я, Ніна") which was initiated by Ukrainian journalist, actress and blogger Janina Sokolova. The project was launched in 2019 and it consists of three parts: a book, a movie and a music video. The article concerns mainly the book Ja, Nina, written in co-authorship with Olha Kuprian, and the main topicis the analysis of the autobiographical narrative, which transforms from the traditional form of a "closed" printed text into an open (endless) message reproduced in the media (interviews with a journalist, Facebook entries, comments). An important aspect of the article is also the issue of the ambiguous relationship between the identity of the author and the hero in an autobiography from the borderland of literature and the world of media. In the traditional sense, autobiography is the author's story about his life, in the case of mass media, that creates virtual reality, the important question is – who is the story about – the author/narrator, or his media image. Janina Sokołowa claims that the aim of the project she has started is to change the attitude of cancer patients towards themselves and to make the public aware of the situation of people suffering from cancer. Her project is the refore a socially engaged activity. Janina Sokołowa's project is also an interesting object for research on new forms of autobiography that are commonly used in popular culture, both in social media and in more traditional media – such as television. The popularity of autobiographical writing is evident if we will look at the shelves of book-stores – full of autobiographical stories from celebrities. The popularity of autobiography is also evident in new phenomena such as sharing on the Internet (on social media and blogs), posts where unknown people talk about themselves, their lives, thoughts and daily activities. These new forms of autobiographical writing are a very interesting subject of research in the field of literary studies, cultural anthropology, psychology and sociology.