This thesis comprises a collection of short stories entitled Everything Beautiful is Far Away, supported by a commentary which explores ideas of self within the short story and locates my creative writing practice within the field of contemporary short fiction and theories of autobiography. The collection Everything Beautiful is Far Away is made up of eleven stories that experiment with a variety of forms, from rhyming flash fiction to the novella, and fairy tale to psychotherapy, and as a substantial example of original creative practice stands as the main body of my thesis. The accompanying critical element is divided into three chapters, the first offering a survey of the aesthetic intentions underpinning the collection, as well as an introduction to the concepts of embedded autobiography and estrangement and establishment of the context in which my enquiry uses such terms. Chapter Two deals primarily with the notion of embedded autobiography and its manifestation within my own short stories, taking in the theories of Karen Horney, Celia Hunt, Ronald Sukenick and elements of psychoanalysis, (Freudian, Lacanian) whilst also considering the writings of Raymond Carver, Ian McEwan and Jean-Paul Sartre. The third and final chapter raises further questions about the concept of the Self in short fiction with specific reference to my own creative practice, the notion of transferring a story from the imagination to the page and the evolution of the project from novel to collection of short fictions.

What I Meant to Say about Love is an ever-differing interstitial text which has left open spaces for artists, researchers, and teachers, called a/r/tographers, to contest the curriculum and pedagogy of reduction and pragmatic means-ends orientations that monopolize schools. This text wanders, meanders, and digresses to places where, through poetic inquiry, the notion that there is no pedagogy without love can be explored. In a broad understanding of midrash, as it is performed poetically, three years of an English teacher's life are recorded fictionally. James, the main character, discovers that love is a physically potent force that structures and deconstructs, just as it connects and disconnects. His story considers how the professional emphasis in education compartmentalizes and separates the inner life from the outer life. In love with life, with learning, and with others, the James of this story writes poetry to acknowledge love's power, and to restore its credibility in the classroom—that the lovers' discourse might be trusted again. This un/authorized autobiography ruptures the predictable stories of what it means to be a successful teacher by considering one teacher's journey as a limit case, examining phenomenologically how he connects his life of love and poetry to his classroom practice and how his students respond to his poetically charged way of being. My hope is that it might be possible to offer here, in this place, one poet's understanding and celebration of difference in the world. Recognizing the relationship between what is original and what is shifting, I hope to keep complexity and diversity alive, to resist answers, to continue to converse and traverse and transgress. Thus, with careful attention to poetry as a way of knowing and unknowing, and by attending to the paradox, humour, and irony in one poet's lived experiences, both public professings and inner confessings, as they are understood in relations of difference, or as they are understood in relations of decomposition and fertility, it is possible to consider how powerful emotive experiences, oftentimes relegated to the personal and therefore insignificant, can and do have profound transformational effects on praxis.

Stefan Zweig had an extraordinary gift for mirroring the complexity of humankind and the human mind, and was undoubtedly one of the most translated authors in the 1930s, but he is still considered a “poor cousin” in the academic world. Indeed, both his life and his work have been consistently viewed through the events of history, something neither caused nor endorsed by him, with the result that his worldview and the general perception of that view often have been misunderstood. In the 1950s and 1960s, scholars focused on the author’s use of genres and language, as well as his political views during the Second World War, rather than on the analysis of his literary texts. Although recent research points to the importance of Zweig’s humanistic worldview, which insists on viewing all human action equally, the poor image of the author caused by his earlier reception still prevails. This thesis focusses on Zweig’s autobiographical work Die Welt von Gestern: Erinnerungen eines Europäers (1942) as an adaptation of both culture and history. This dissertation demonstrates, how through the subject perception of the “I,” “life writing” becomes “history writing,” dismantling a cultural and political world. Not only does this “I” hold multiple functions, but each function illuminates a different fragment of an event in search of a “truth.” Zweig’s autobiography incorporates elements from other genres, which enables us to see him in part as a postmodern author. To illustrate the game-like use of Zweig’s subjective worldview, Philippe Lejeune’s “autobiographical pact,” Mieke Bal’s concept of focalization, and Walter Benjamin’s essay “Der Erzähler” will form the framework for a linguistic, narratological, and philosophical analysis. In order to show that autobiographical writing resides in the tradition of alternative history, rather than in the simple enumeration of facts, Henry Adams’ The Education of Henry Adams (1918) has been woven into the analysis of Zweig’s text, as an example of an autobiography from a historian’s point of view, who, although motivated by different circumstances, exposes a similar philosophy of history to Zweig’s. Besides Zweig’s autobiography this dissertation will also include other works of the author, such as Triumph und Tragik des Erasmus von Rotterdam (1934), Maria Stuart (1935) und “Schachnovelle“ (1942) as part of the analysis in order to show the reflexion of history and life in the author’s biographical work as well. / Thesis (Ph.D, German) -- Queen's University, 2011-08-29 09:09:58.611

This thesis attempts to demonstrate the importance of the "autobiography of childhood" in Gabrielle Roy's first-person narratives through a narratological analysis of the most representative of these texts--the pseudo-autobiographical Rue Deschambault and La Route d'Altamont as well as the autobiographical texts La Detresse et l'Enchantement, "Ma petite rue qui m'a menee autour du monde", "Mes etudes a Saint-Boniface", "Souvenirs du Manitoba" and "Mon heritage du Manitoba". Our purpose is to identify recurrent structures and to interpret the similarities and differences in the light of contemporary theories on the autobiographical genre. This allows us in turn to examine the functioning and meaning of childhood writing in Gabrielle Roy's first-person narratives.

Bakgrund: I Sverige vårdades år 2011 drygt 7700 personer på sjukhus för självskador. Självskadebeteendet används ofta som en copingstrategi för att hantera och lindra psykisk smärta och ångest, men kan även vara ett rop på hjälp. Handlingarna väcker ofta starka känslor, såsom ilska, maktlöshet och antipati, hos sjukvårdspersonal. Patientgruppen upplevs ofta svår att ge bra vård till och patienterna utsätts för mycket tvångsvård och tvångsåtgärder. Syfte: Syftet är att belysa hur patienter med självskadebeteende upplever bemötandet i vården. Metod: Studien, en kvalitativ innehållsanalys med induktiv ansats, har utförts medelst analysering av tre självbiografier skrivna av personer med ett tidigare självskadebeteende. Resultat: Självbiografiförfattarnas upplevelser av bemötandet i vården delades in i två huvudkategorier; positiva respektive negativa upplevelser. Under positiva upplevelser utkristalliserades fyra kategorier; Trygghet och tillit, Erhålla information, Bli tagen på allvar och känna sig förstådd respektive Omtanke och stöd. Under huvudkategorin negativa upplevelser hittades kategorierna Utlämnad och maktlös, Ej bli tagen på allvar och ej känna sig förstådd, Ej känna sig värdig vård samt Bristande information. Slutsats: Bemötandet inom vården är avgörande för relationen mellan vårdare och vårdtagare. Då patienterna hade positiva upplevelser av bemötandet grundlades en tillitsfull relation. Ett dåligt bemötande bidrog till ett vårdlidande för patienterna. Klinisk betydelse: Resultatet kan ge vårdpersonal en ökad kunskap och bättre förståelse för vad i bemötandet som upplevs positivt respektive negativt av patienten. Detta kan leda till ett förbättrat och mer professionellt bemötande av dessa patienter, vilket är viktigt för ett gott tillfrisknande. / Background: During 2011 more than 7700 people were hospitalized for self-injuries in Sweden. Self-injury behavior is often used as a coping strategy to manage and relieve mental pain and anguish, but can also be a cry for help. The actions often generate strong emotions, such as anger, powerlessness and antipathy, among health care staff. This group of patients is often perceived difficult to provide good care for and the patients are exposed to many coercive measures. Purpose: The purpose is to illustrate how patients with self-injury behavior experience their treatment. Method: The study, a qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach, has been performed by analyzing three autobiographies written by persons with a previous self-injury behavior. Result: The patients/authors experiences of their treatment were divided into two main categories; positive and negative experiences. Under positive experiences four categories crystallized; Security and trust, Receive information, Be taken seriously and feel understood and Care and support. Under the main category negative experiences four categories were developed; Left out and powerlessness, Not be taken seriously and not feel understood, Not feel worthy of care and Lack of information. Conclusion: The treatment in health care is critical to the relationship between caregiver and care recipient. When the patients´ had positive experiences of the treatment from the staff a trusting relationship was founded. A bad attitude contributed to patients suffering. Clinical significance: The results may give health care professionals a better knowledge and understanding of the treatment that is perceived positively or negatively by the patient. This can lead to an improved and more professional treatment of these patients, which is important for a good recovery.

Life writing is always constituted of alternate versions of the self and the lived life of the self. The duplicities inherent in life writing are central to this study. These duplicities refer not only to the doubleness, but also to the constructedness, of life writing. My enabling assumption is that a life lived is never the same as the life written. Some of the questions at stake in the discourse of life writing include: How may the self be represented in literary form? How is biography a necessary ground of autobiography? What is the borderline between history and life story? Why and how is a lived life different from a written life? How much "truth" is there in life writing? One obvious starting point is to trace the history of selfhood, or the identity of the self. Charles Taylor's Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity (1989) provides a thorough analysis of the sources of the self in its historical transformation from Plato's time to our era. However, only recently have media theorists such as Eric Havelock (1963), Benedict Anderson (1991), Mark Poster (1995) and Ronald J. Deibert (1997) offered an estimate of how self-identity changes as technology varies, and how the form of communication alters the bases of identity. Based on discoveries in neuroscience, Paul Eakin (1999) uses narrative theory to explain why life writing is always made up of multiple versions and how the notion of selfhood is profoundly shaped by culture. William Spengemann's historical and philosophical analysis of traditional autobiographies helps to explain different forms of autobiography in terms of personal motives and cultural reasons for writing. This study shows that life writing is necessarily a process of translation in which facts must be transmuted into stories. In the process of translation, there are always alternate versions of the self, forms, media, voices, narratives, realities and finally alternate versions of fictions. By looking at seven of Carol Shields's fictions, this study aims to illustrate how Shields goes beyond models of historical, philosophical, and poetic self-presentation to find new ways and new forms for self-presentation in life writing.

The object of the research is experiences in Doris Lessing’s autobiography volumes Under My Skin and Walking in the Shade. The aim of the research is to analyse the development of life experiences in Lessing’s autobiography books Under My Skin (1994) and Walking in the Shade (1998). The objectives are the following: 1) to survey Philippe Lejeune’s theory about autobiography; 2) to review the Simone de Beauvoir’s theory on feminism; 3) to carry out analysis of the sources in the aspect of development of female narrator’s experience. The methodology of the research is based on: 1. Theoretical and cultural ideas about autobiography dissemination are best illustrated in Philippe Lejeune’s landmark essay The Autobiographical Pact (1975). According to Lejeune, autobiography, relying on personal experiences is more concentrated on the internal processes of a person. The leading European critic and theorist deal with the narrator’s and character’s identification with the author and emphasize the importance to remember the time when autobiography was written and the cultural attitudes and beliefs of that time. 2. Simone de Beauvoir’s book The Second Sex (1989) one of the first major feminist’s texts, explores the role of a woman in society, grounding on literature, myth and history. Its central thesis is that women are made rather than born. On the basis of this statement elaborated in the theoretical part of the BA Thesis, the development of experiences of the narrator in the... [to full text] / Tyrimo objektas – patirtys Dorisės Lessing autobiografijos knygose „Po mano oda“ ir „Vaikščiojimas šešėlyje“. Šio darbo tikslas yra išnagrinėti gyvenimo patirties raidą Dorisės Lessing autobiografinėse knygose „Po mano oda“ (1994) bei „Vaikščiojimas šešėlyje“ (1998). Uždaviniai: 1) apžvelgti Philippe’o Lejeune’o autobiografijos teoriją; 2) apžvelgti Simonos de Bovuar feminizmo teoriją; 3) atlikti šaltinių analizę moters pasakotojos patirties aspektu. Tyrimo metodikos pagrindimas: 1. Teorinės ir kultūrinės autobiografijos plėtros idėjos geriausiai atsispindi garsiausioje Philippe’o Lejeune’o apybraižoje „Autobiografinis paktas“ (1975). Pasak Lejeune’o, autobiografija priklauso nuo žmogaus asmeninių patirčių ir atskleidžia vidinius asmens procesus. Kritikas nagrinėja pasakotojo ir personažo susitapatinimą su autoriumi, akcentuoja laikotarpio, kuriuo ji buvo parašyta, bei tuo metu vyravusių kultūrinių normų svarbą. 2. Simonos de Bovuar knyga „Antroji lytis“ (1989), pripažinta vienu pirmųjų svarbesnių feministinių tekstų, nagrinėja moters vaidmenį visuomenėje, remiantis literatūra, mitais ir istorija. Pagrindinė knygoje išsakoma mintis yra ta, kad moteris yra „pagaminama“, ja negimstama. Remiantis šiuo teiginiu, detalizuotu bakalauro darbo teorinėje dalyje, bus analizuojama pasakotojo patirties plėtra autobiografinėse knygose. Šių dviejų autobiografijų autorė Dorisė Lessing yra viena svarbiausių XX amžiaus britų rašytojų. Knygose pasakojama istorija moters, kuri, paliesta pirmojo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

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This thesis contends that there has often been a critical tendency to understate the challenges to the genre of autobiography that occur in Audrey Thomas's three novels: Songs My Mother Taught Me, Mrs. Blood, and Blown Figures. Chapter one qualifies autobiography in terms of its reliance on the liberal humanist subject as both author and protagonist. In the context of poststructuralist criticism, the author cannot be the unified, unique, original locus of truth that the liberal humanist subject is posited to be. Thus, as the subject collapses the foundation of autobiography collapses. Chapter two is a detailed analysis illustrating that the three novels stylistically and thematically deny the existence of the liberal humanist subject. thereby exemplifying the poststructuralist challenge to autobiography. The Canadian canons reliance on mimetic literature---of which pure autobiography would be the prime example---is offered as an explanation for critics' understatement of the texts' denial.

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