Elena De Wachter

Elena De Wachter is a teacher of English in upper secondary school. She holds a Master’s degree in Modern and Contemporary Literature from Cambridge University, and graduated with honours from her Bachelor in English Literature from University of Aberdeen in Scotland. She has always been fascinated by the workings and intricacies of language, and has produced work on, among others, Margaret Atwood, Katherine Mansfield, and Arundhati Roy, on topics as varied as silence, hats, and children’s voices. She has presented papers at the 2018 Clariety Symposium, the Katherine Mansfield Society Post-Graduate Day, and was an organiser and speaker at the ‘Discourses and Dialogues’ conference (Cambridge, 2018).

Fiction is ‘the lie that tells the truth’ (Neil Gaiman), and Elena will approach the topic of honesty through its negation – dishonesty and lies. In the wake of fake news, social media personas, and popular pseudo-scientific theories, it is pertinent to examine the ways in which we are dishonest, to others and to ourselves. The presentation will venture to explore how narratives exercise their power over us, as we construct them to make sense of the world.