You are herewith cordially invited to a public lecture presented by the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French at the University of the Free State.
First lecture in 2026: The Path Inward: Memoir Writing
Speaker: Zarine Roodt
Date: Friday, 20 February 2026
Time: 11:00-12:00
Venue: FGG201
ABSTRACT
This lecture examines travel and memoir writing through a Jungian lens, exploring the relationship between the outer journey and the inner journey, and in particular the ways in which the inner journey may deepen during physical travel. The author’s two memoirs are based on journeys undertaken prior to her 50th and 60th birthdays respectively: the first documents a search for remote labyrinths in England, while the second reflects on a five-week pilgrimage along the Portuguese Camino. The discussion engages with the work of Alain de Botton (2002: The Art of Travel) and Rebecca Solnit (2005: A Field Guide to Getting Lost), particularly their reflections on “losing oneself” and “getting lost,” and considers how these ideas relate to the concepts of transformation and individuation. Attention is also given to strategies for enlivening the text without compromising the writer’s commitment to a truthful rendering of lived experience, while remaining attentive to the principles of good writing. The lecture concludes with practical guidelines for memoir writing.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Zarine Roodt is a former student of the University of the Free State in the Department of Communication Studies (1977–1980), and later a lecturer in the same department (1984–1989). After leaving the university, she established a public relations and advertising agency, the interests of which she sold in 1999. She subsequently began studying psychology at Unisa, where she obtained her second master’s degree in 2009; the focus of her dissertation was writing therapy.
She currently facilitates workshops and retreats for women, where she integrates her background in these two disciplines from a Jungian perspective. Drawing on her experience of writing therapy, her work engages with Jungian concepts such as individuation, the unconscious, archetypes, and dream analysis. Her first memoir, enkelreis (Hemel & See), was published in 2014, followed by her second, ’n Dagreis ver (Naledi), in 2022.
Please RSVP to Petronella Bango: BangoPJ@ufs.ac.za
This lecture will be presented in Afrikaans. Please let Petronella Bango know if interpreter services will be needed.