Narrating the Self: Linguistic Features and the Construction of Discourse through Memory and Subjectivity in Petro Marko's Autobiography

Abstract

This article analyzes the autobiographical work of Petro Marko through a linguistic and discourse-oriented methodology, focusing on the interplay of memory, self-construction, and narrative discourse. The interview format functions as a metadiscursive strategy that challenges traditional autobiographical linearity, emphasizing a dialogic engagement between different temporal selves. Linguistic and stylistic features foreground the subjective perception of lived experience, highlighting the author's artistic mediation of memory and identity. The episodic structure of the text is explored as a narrative strategy that privileges subjective meaning-making over chronological coherence, contributing to the renewal and modernization of the autobiographical genre. By examining the linguistic mechanisms that sustain self-reflection and shape autobiographical truth, the study positions autobiography as a performative act of identity negotiation within a specific historical and cultural context. The linguistic and stylistic choices reflect the challenges of narrating both personal and collective histories under ideological constraints, against the sociopolitical backdrop of the author's time. Marko's narrative articulates both aesthetic control and personal authenticity, asserting autobiography as a sincere act of self-discovery.The theoretical framework draws on Roy Pascal's conception of subjectivity in autobiography and Nietzsche's notion of self-construction. Particular attention is given to the roles of interviewer and interviewee both enacted by the aging author as a performative device that enables layered self reflection and the emergence of a multifaceted narrative voice.Through its fragmented architecture and metadiscursive devices, Marko's text reconfigures autobiography as a dynamic site of memory, identity, and historical representation.