The novel manuscript Blue Horses (published as Dust, by Random House Australia under its Woolshed Press Imprint, July 2009) focuses on a dusty corner of 1970’s Queensland in this evocative tale of family, shadows that hang over from childhood and beauty found in unexpected places. Its protagonist, Cecilia Maria, was named after saints and martyrs to give her something to live up to. “Over my dead body,” she vows. Her battles with a six-pack of brothers and the despised Kapernicke girls from the farm next door teach her an unforgettable lesson that echoes down through the years. Now she’s heading back to where it all began, with teenagers Jed and Jenna reluctantly in tow. She plans to dance on a grave and track down some ghosts. Instead she learns a new lesson at the gravesite of an old enemy. The exegesis examines Jung’s concept of the Shadow Archetype as a catalyst for individuation in writing for young adults. It discusses the need to re-vision Jung’s work within a feminist framework and contrasts it to Julia Kristeva’s work on the abject. Alyssa Brugman’s Walking Naked and Sonya Hartnett’s Sleeping Dogs are analysed in relation to these concepts and lead into my own creative reflections on, and justification for, use of the Shadow conceptual framework. In following my shadow and establishing a creative dialogue between my conscious intent and unconscious inspirations, I have discovered a writing self that is “other” to the professional writer persona of my past.

En s’appuyant principalement sur le travail de Gilbert Simondon (1989) et sur celui de Bernard Stiegler (2010, 2012, 2013), ce mémoire de maîtrise explore la relation entre les notions d’individu et de collectif. D’une part, cette relation est conceptualisée et développée à travers les concepts de transindividuation et d’individuation collective ; et d’autre part, celle-ci est explorée via les théories de l’improvisation libre (free improvised music). S’intéressant aux différentes modalités de cette pratique musicale (Bailey, 1992 ; Saladin, 2002, 2010, 2014 ; Corbett, 2004, 2016 ; Peters, 2009), cette recherche conçoit l’improvisation libre comme une approche radicale permettant d’aborder autrement la relation entre les notions d’individu et de collectif. L’agencement, la confrontation et la négociation des singularités individuelles des musiciens.nes en présence étant au centre de la pratique de l’improvisation libre, la méthodologie mobilisée vise à cerner les dynamiques permettant de saisir la complexité de cette relation. En s’appuyant particulièrement sur la research-from-creation et la creation-as-research (Chapman & Sawchuk, 2012), l’aspect méthodologique de ce mémoire est ancré dans la recherche-création. En ce sens, les principaux matériaux d’analyse ont émergé de l’expérience de séances d’improvisation libre dans laquelle l’immédiateté et l’éphémérité de la création ont été vécues, discutées et ultérieurement analysées à travers les concepts de rythme et de présence propres à la rythmanalyse d’Henri Lefebvre (1980, 1992). / Relying mainly on the work of Gilbert Simondon (1989) and Bernard Stiegler (2010, 2012, 2013), this master’s thesis explores the relation between the notions of individual and collective. On one hand, the relation is conceptualised and developed through the concepts of transindividuation and collective individuation ; and on the other hand, it is explored through free improvisation / free improvised music theories. Looking at the different modalities of that musical practice (Bailey, 1992 ; Saladin, 2002, 2010, 2014 ; Corbett, 2004, 2016 ; Peters, 2009), this research conceives free improvisation as a radical approach to tackle differently the relation between the notions of individual and collective. The assemblage, confrontation and negotiation of individual singularities of musicians being at the centre of free improvisation, the chosen methodology tends to define the dynamics allowing to understand the complexity of that relation. Relying particularly on research-from-creation and creation-as-research (Chapman & Sawchuk, 2012), the methodological aspect of this thesis is anchored in research-creation. In that sense, the main analysis materials have emerged from the experience of free improvisation sessions in which the instantaneity and ephemeral aspect of creation were lived, discussed and subsequently analysed through the concepts of rhythm and presence inherent to Henri Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis (1980, 1992).