The examination of literature and art has been one of psychotherapy's most powerful ways of explicating its theories and disseminating its concepts. In this study, I have explored various concepts of family psychotherapy by applying them to three works of imaginative literature, and one work of sculpture: Luigi Pirandello's play, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Franz Kafka's novella, The Metamorphosis, Robinson Jeffers' poem, "The Purse-Seine," and the ancient Roman sculpture, the Laocoon. / Ph. D.

In this dissertation it is argued that literary theories have traditionally extended abundant attention on authors and texts, neglecting, with very few exceptions, the impor- tant role of the READER. To address this imbalance, par- ticular attention will be paid to the view of Wolfgang Iser, that a literary text can only elicit a response when it is read, and that it is virtually impossible to describe this response without also analysing the READING PROCESS. I share this view as it makes logical sense: a literary text remains meaningless, a mere 'paper and ink' production without the involvement of the reader. It is also the reader's own com- petence, his sense of aesthetic perception which enables him to make sense of the, in the literary text embedded message, hence the title: "The Nature of Aesthetic Perception in Literature. The Interaction between Text and Reader in the Process of Perceiving Literary Texts." / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / M.A. (Theory of Literature)

Por constatar-se uma severa dificuldade na produção textual por parte de futuros alfabetizadores, graduandos em Pedagogia, buscou-se balizas na psicanálise, sobretudo nos estudos da Angústia empreendidos por Freud e Lacan, que permitissem desenvolver uma pesquisa a respeito do que gera tal dificuldade e que guiassem uma análise teórica sobre o envolvimento subjetivo que resulta na marca diferencial entre determinados tipos de escrita. Sustenta-se a hipótese de que há um receio por parte do sujeito em desvelar-se através do suporte (escrita textual) e que a inibição decorra disto. Questionou-se também se determinados textos, que sugerem ausência do sujeito, são resultado de uma leitura assídua que, ao invés de gerar escrita sublimatória, funciona apenas para importar discurso alheio, poupando as próprias formas de o sujeito ver o mundo e as diferenças sexuais. Discutiu-se o formato operacional vigente no trabalho com a literatura, dentro das instituições escolares, e a possibilidade de uma aproximação com as obras consagradas que trafegue por uma via diversa daquela cognitiva. Propôs-se que uma abordagem que autorize o subjetivo, resulta numa particular transferência e sublimação de forma que a leitura se configura em autoria podendo fazer, por acréscimo, efeito de relançamento na escritura. / For evidencing a severe difficulty in the literal production by the future teacher of children, graduated in Pedagogy, searched beacons in the psychoanalysis, over all in the studies of the Anguish undertaken by Freud and Lacan, that allowed to develop a research regarding what it generates such difficulty and that they guided a theoretical analysis on the subjective envolvement that results in the distinguishing mark between determined types of writing. It is supported hypothesis of that has a distrust on the part of the subject in reveal itself through the support (written literal) and that the inhibition elapses of this. It was also questioned if definitive texts, that suggest absence of the subject, are resulted of a frequent reading that, instead of generating sublimation written, it only functions to import other people\'s speech, saving the proper forms of the subject to see the world and the sexual differences. The effective operational format in the work with literature was discussed, inside of the school institutions, and the possibility of an approach with the consecrated workmanships that passes through a diverse way of that cognitive. It was considered that a boarding that authorizes the subjective, results in a particular transference and subliming so that the reading configures itself in authorship being able to make, for addition, effect of relaunching in the writing.

Por constatar-se uma severa dificuldade na produção textual por parte de futuros alfabetizadores, graduandos em Pedagogia, buscou-se balizas na psicanálise, sobretudo nos estudos da Angústia empreendidos por Freud e Lacan, que permitissem desenvolver uma pesquisa a respeito do que gera tal dificuldade e que guiassem uma análise teórica sobre o envolvimento subjetivo que resulta na marca diferencial entre determinados tipos de escrita. Sustenta-se a hipótese de que há um receio por parte do sujeito em desvelar-se através do suporte (escrita textual) e que a inibição decorra disto. Questionou-se também se determinados textos, que sugerem ausência do sujeito, são resultado de uma leitura assídua que, ao invés de gerar escrita sublimatória, funciona apenas para importar discurso alheio, poupando as próprias formas de o sujeito ver o mundo e as diferenças sexuais. Discutiu-se o formato operacional vigente no trabalho com a literatura, dentro das instituições escolares, e a possibilidade de uma aproximação com as obras consagradas que trafegue por uma via diversa daquela cognitiva. Propôs-se que uma abordagem que autorize o subjetivo, resulta numa particular transferência e sublimação de forma que a leitura se configura em autoria podendo fazer, por acréscimo, efeito de relançamento na escritura. / For evidencing a severe difficulty in the literal production by the future teacher of children, graduated in Pedagogy, searched beacons in the psychoanalysis, over all in the studies of the Anguish undertaken by Freud and Lacan, that allowed to develop a research regarding what it generates such difficulty and that they guided a theoretical analysis on the subjective envolvement that results in the distinguishing mark between determined types of writing. It is supported hypothesis of that has a distrust on the part of the subject in reveal itself through the support (written literal) and that the inhibition elapses of this. It was also questioned if definitive texts, that suggest absence of the subject, are resulted of a frequent reading that, instead of generating sublimation written, it only functions to import other people\'s speech, saving the proper forms of the subject to see the world and the sexual differences. The effective operational format in the work with literature was discussed, inside of the school institutions, and the possibility of an approach with the consecrated workmanships that passes through a diverse way of that cognitive. It was considered that a boarding that authorizes the subjective, results in a particular transference and subliming so that the reading configures itself in authorship being able to make, for addition, effect of relaunching in the writing.

This study is textual in its resource rather than empirical, and is applied to the experiential nature of the dream-ego. It is conceptual in its application, and its domain of inquiry is focussed on redescribing and reinterpreting the Jungian literature in order to further inform the understanding of the role of the dream-ego in analytical psychological practice. The major underlying assumption which forms the primary foundation for this study is that ‘mind is the subjective experience of brain’ and this statement serves the purpose of positioning the study as being anchored in biological science but not biological in scope. The statement also implies there is no conflict in the conclusions of neurobiological studies and phenomenological studies and positions these realms as correlates of each other. The subjective experience of brain is the realm in which our lives are lived and in which all our perceptions, ideas and feelings are experienced and so the phenomenological approach of the study is a consequence of that fact. The focus is on the dream-ego itself, using a selection of Jung’s own recorded dreams as vehicles to support, describe and reinterpret concepts from the literature in order to elucidate the dream-ego’s function in psychological health. If the dreaming state were exclusively an innocuous epiphenomenon of neurological processes with no experiential function, then it would be expected that the images generated would be quarantined from consciousness entirely, for reasons of psychic stability and hence then cease to be images, but the commonality and regularity of the dream-ego experience indicates an evolved psychic phenomenon with a definite relationship to the waking-ego. The remarkable images and associations experienced in dreams are expressions of the psyche’s uncompromising experiential authenticity and although these dream experiences may be profoundly complex, the dream-ego is seen to have an underlying naivety whose nature is captured by the title of Charles Rycroft’s (1981) book “The Innocence of Dreams”. When the dream-ego is contrasted to the waking-ego it becomes clear that the major difference is in this ‘innocence’ which is a consequence of the attenuation of rationality and volition for the dream-ego. This weaker rationality and volition prevents the dream-ego from talking or walking its way out of confrontation with unconscious content which manifests before it. The dream-ego experience is based on feelings and emotions which were the original reasons and criteria driving the censorship of the ‘feeling toned complexes’, as Jung describes them. The experience of unconscious material by the vulnerable dream-ego and the subsequent transfer to the waking-ego provides the option for the waking-ego to ‘reconsider’ or to make decisions based on the authentic feelings of the psyche. The fact that mammals exhibit REM sleep, and the strong case for mammals dreaming during that period, complicates the understanding of human dream function. In non dreaming sleep the ego is annihilated but is underwritten by the neural networks which constitute the ego when ‘active����. Since neural networks are known to atrophy with disuse, the sequestered ego is at risk of loss of fidelity on manifestation, and therefore may mismatch the environmental context. The study presents the dreaming state as the periodic partial activation of the ����neural ego���� to prevent atrophy and to maintain ego retrieval fidelity. This concept has applicability also to the animal case, since they must maintain their behavioural fluency and environmental congruence. Once the evolved dreaming state is established in mammals it may be subject to further evolutionary possibilities and subtleties in the human case. A consequence of this study is the presentation of the dream-ego as the partial arousal of the waking-ego, rather than the normal wording of the dream-ego as the half asleep waking-ego, since the dream-ego is seen as the psyche rehearsing its ego. The defining phenomenology of the dream-ego is found in its vulnerability to the feelings and emotions of the psyche, but paradoxically this vulnerability is its strength in its role as the feeling nexus between the unconscious and conscious mind. The waking-ego which may misconstrue its role in the psyche’s scheme of things and become aloof in its mentations believing all problems are intellectual, has the innocence of the dream-ego experience as its lifeline to the psyche’s authenticity. It is the intent of this study to contribute to the understanding of the role of the dream-ego experience in therapeutic practice, and placing the dream-ego as the protagonist of the study, to be attentive to the power of its innocence. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

My doctoral thesis focuses on the twentieth-century Scottish writer, Jessie Kesson, examining the effects of the cultural construction of gender from a feminist psychoanalytic perspective. Although my primary focus is on the detrimental effects traditional gender roles have on girls and women, recently published studies claiming that 'masculinity' is in a state of crisis are of particular value to my work. The reasons contemporary critics offer for this 'crisis in masculinity' vary widely. There are those who are convinced that women are to blame for abandoning their traditional roles as wives and mothers and moving too far into areas of society that are traditionally 'male'. This, they believe, results in a 'feminised' society that has an adverse effect on the development and well-being of boys and men. Those who support this argument generally believe that social, emotional and psychological distinctions between the genders are biologically inherent rather than socially constructed, and would prefer to see gender positions polarised rather than assimilated. At the other end of the scale are those who believe that the behaviours associated with traditional 'masculinity' are outmoded, fostering a form of emotional distrophy that is responsible for the increase in male suicide and autistic-like behaviours. Those who support this argument believe that males should develop a new set of behavioural traits more closely aligned to those traditionally thought of as 'feminine': traits like spontaneity, expressiveness, empathy and compassion. I have found the latter arguments exciting on two counts: firstly because an increasing number of male critics are joining female critics in acknowledging that many of the traits and behaviours traditionally associated with 'masculinity' are life-denying for both sexes; secondly, and most importantly, because these critics are echoing the findings of the feminist psychoanalytic critic, Jessica Benjamin, whose work I have found so stimulating. But, where critics have pointed to the problem ('masculine' behaviour) and recommended that it be modified to something more closely resembling 'feminine' behaviour, Benjamin has not only identified the source of the problem, she has developed a revised theory of human development, 'Intersubjectivity', which offers a positive and transformative approach to human behaviour. I examine Benjamin�s theory closely in Chapter Two, and make use of it in succeeding chapters. In May 2000, financed by the Bamforth Scholarship fund (with help from the Humanities Division of the University of Otago), I attended a conference at the University of St Andrews entitled 'Scotland: The Gendered Nation', which gave me a wider view of the concerns of contemporary Scottish writers and scholars. The paper I presented at the conference, "That great brute of a bunion!": the construction of masculinity in Jessie Kesson�s Glitter of Mica�, was published in the Spring 2001 issue of Scottish Studies Review. Following the conference I spent the rest of May in Scotland finding out more about Kesson and her writing under the generous tutelage of Kesson�s biographer, Dr Isobel (Tait) Murray, from the University of Aberdeen. Kesson wrote many plays for the BBC, and I was able to read Dr Murray�s copies of some of these unpublished works in the security of the Kings College Library, along with back copies of North-East Review to which Kesson contributed. In Edinburgh I visited the National Library of Scotland which holds back copies of The Scots Magazine containing pertinent articles by Kesson and her contemporaries. Then I travelled to those parts of North-East Scotland which feature most precisely in Kesson�s life and writing. My Scottish month was invaluable for its insight into the critical literary climate of Scotland, and for allowing me to reach Jessie Kesson imaginatively: through the boarded-up windows of the Orphanage at Skene; by the ruined Cathedral at Elgin; at the top of Our Lady�s Lane; and on the steps of her cottar house at Westertown Farm. [SEE FOOTNOTE] It was a privilege to trace Kesson�s footsteps and then to return to the other side of the world with a much keener sense of her 'place'. I would like to think this has carried over into my work, the structure of which is as follows: Chapter One gives a brief history of Jessie Kesson�s life and writing. Chapter Two focuses on Jessica Benjamin the feminist psychoanalytic critic whose work provides the main theoretical framework for my thesis. Chapter Three considers the expression of female sexuality in the novella Where the Apple Ripens, and the way society conspires to have it diminish rather than enhance a sense of female self-hood. Where the Apple Ripens is not Kesson�s first published work but, because it introduces the central concerns of my thesis through the experiences of an adolescent girl, I have chosen to begin with it rather than with The White Bird Passes and to work towards increasingly complex gender relations in succeeding chapters. In Chapter Four, The White Bird Passes, I look at the way Kesson depicts girls and women as instruments of male sexuality, controlled by a nervous patriarchy whose institutions (family, education, church) take away the promise of her female characters. Chapter Five is centred on The Glitter of Mica, and considers the consequences of a masculinity constructed around the destruction of 'the Mother'. Chapter Six considers the fate of the anonymous young woman in Another Time, Another Place, and examines the conventions of the social order that deny her self-definition. Chapter Seven also examines the social conventions that shape and limit the lives of Kesson�s female characters - this time in a selection of Kesson�s short stories and poems. In Chapter Eight I look at selected writers from the eighteenth to the twentieth-century whose work, in diverse and often contradictory ways, has contributed to an interrogation of gender in Scottish literature. This is not an historical and systematic survey of gender relations in Scotland; it is not even an historical and systematic survey of gender questions in Scottish literature. Rather, it is an impressionistic account of such matters in some selected Scottish literature - selected in part to cover some highly influential figures, and in part from Jessie Kesson�s more immediate context: feminine, rural, the North East. There is a place for such historical and systematic work, of course, and I hope that someone will do it. All I can hope for is that I may have provided some beginning but more importantly, that my work in this chapter will sharpen, further, an understanding of Jessie Kesson. I begin with the life and work of the poet, Robert Burns. As well as featuring in Kesson�s Glitter of Mica, Burns and his legacy are matters of influence in the gendered ideal of 'Scottishness' for both laymen and writers at home and abroad. Following Burns, I contrast the unconscious gender ideology which permeates Neil Gunn�s writing with the progressive awareness of gender issues that characterises the work of Lewis Grassic Gibbon and aligns the latter with Kesson�s. I then examine the idealised landscapes and sentimentalised characters of the Kailyard era and the hostile response of the anti-Kailyard writers. This leads into an examination of Hugh MacDiarmid�s poem, A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle. MacDiarmid, like Burns, was monumental on the Scottish literary scene and his efforts to rekindle the spirit of the primitive Scot through literature have made him influential with a smaller but equally significant group. What is of particular relevance to my work is that the ideal of 'Scottishness' fostered by writers such as Burns and MacDiarmid is heavily dependent on prescribed gender positions which promote the exploitation of women while rendering them subservient to men and politically powerless. It is from within this environment of gender-based Scottishness that Jessie Kesson and other women writers, were writing and arguing. Therefore, lastly, in Chapter Eight, I concentrate on those women writers whose work has the most relevance to the time, place and ideological content of Kesson�s writing: Violet Jacob, Catherine Carswell, Lorna Moon, Willa Muir and Nan Shepherd. The writing of all of these women is concerned with psychic well-being centred on human relations and/or self-determination and, of the five, the writings of Willa Muir and Nan Shepherd are considered more fully because of the particular contribution they make to my examination of Jessie Kesson: Willa Muir commented, both directly and indirectly, on gender matters. Nan Shepherd, quite apart from being a friend of many years to Jessie Kesson, wrote novels in which gender issues are entirely central. FOOTNOTE: I am indebted to Sir Maitland Mackie for giving me a guided tour of Westertown Farm, the setting for Darklands in The Glitter of Mica.

The novel Children Of The Earth is about transformation. It uses Ovid's Metamorphoses as a metaphor for the processes which occur in the psyche of each character, and is based on Jungian insights into myth and alchemy. Archetypes that underlie the unconscious processes of all humanity are seen in the symbolism of three very different religious traditions, namely Greek mythology, the Hebrew Old Testament and Australian Aboriginal beliefs. I explore the ways in which these three great mythologies might have converged in colonial South Australia. The story deals with the troubled marriage of isolated settler couple, Hestia and Adam George, and the effects on it of three people who come into their lives. Itinerant German mineralogist Johannes Menge ( based on a real life pioneer ) is a self-taught, eccentric polymath, and a devout but unorthodox exponent of the Bible. In Jungian terms he fulfils the role of an archetypal, but flawed, ' Wise Old Man'. Menge represents nineteenth century Protestantism, albeit still trailing some arcane superstitions. His protégé, a disgraced young teacher of classics, calls himself Hermes, and represents the role of Greek mythology in European civilization. Reliving the life of the mercurial god in the antipodes, he becomes messenger, trickster and seducer. Unatildi, an Indigenous girl whom Adam finds in a burnt-out tree trunk, is an archetypal maiden. She introduces the Europeans to the mythology of their new land, as sacred for her people as the Bible is for Johannes Menge. Each of these three characters plays a part in transforming the marriage of Adam and Hestia, and each, in turn, undergoes a personal metamorphosis. Aboriginal women act as midwives at the birth of the love-child of Hestia and Hermes. Named Sophia, after the goddess of wisdom, the new child is thought to have inherited the miwi spirit of Unatildi's lost infant. On his deathbed, as Menge bequeaths his wisdom to his Australian friends, he predicts that Sophia will understand the sacredness of all spiritual life. Eventually Hestia and Adam find themselves changed by their encounters with the archetypes of myth. News of Menge's death on the goldfields gives them the courage they need to begin rebuilding an honest relationship. The novel is 107,400 words in length and is accompanied by an exegesis of 20,170 word, entitled Myth And Alchemy In Creative Writing. The exegesis describes the interactive process of researching and writing, as well as exploring the value of Jungian concepts for creative writing, and current issues of creating Indigenous characters. There is an emphasis on the Jungian approach to mythology and alchemy. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Humanities, 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2008. / A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, School of Humanities and Languages, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographies.

My doctoral thesis focuses on the twentieth-century Scottish writer, Jessie Kesson, examining the effects of the cultural construction of gender from a feminist psychoanalytic perspective. Although my primary focus is on the detrimental effects traditional gender roles have on girls and women, recently published studies claiming that 'masculinity' is in a state of crisis are of particular value to my work. The reasons contemporary critics offer for this 'crisis in masculinity' vary widely. There are those who are convinced that women are to blame for abandoning their traditional roles as wives and mothers and moving too far into areas of society that are traditionally 'male'. This, they believe, results in a 'feminised' society that has an adverse effect on the development and well-being of boys and men. Those who support this argument generally believe that social, emotional and psychological distinctions between the genders are biologically inherent rather than socially constructed, and would prefer to see gender positions polarised rather than assimilated. At the other end of the scale are those who believe that the behaviours associated with traditional 'masculinity' are outmoded, fostering a form of emotional distrophy that is responsible for the increase in male suicide and autistic-like behaviours. Those who support this argument believe that males should develop a new set of behavioural traits more closely aligned to those traditionally thought of as 'feminine': traits like spontaneity, expressiveness, empathy and compassion. I have found the latter arguments exciting on two counts: firstly because an increasing number of male critics are joining female critics in acknowledging that many of the traits and behaviours traditionally associated with 'masculinity' are life-denying for both sexes; secondly, and most importantly, because these critics are echoing the findings of the feminist psychoanalytic critic, Jessica Benjamin, whose work I have found so stimulating. But, where critics have pointed to the problem ('masculine' behaviour) and recommended that it be modified to something more closely resembling 'feminine' behaviour, Benjamin has not only identified the source of the problem, she has developed a revised theory of human development, 'Intersubjectivity', which offers a positive and transformative approach to human behaviour. I examine Benjamin�s theory closely in Chapter Two, and make use of it in succeeding chapters. In May 2000, financed by the Bamforth Scholarship fund (with help from the Humanities Division of the University of Otago), I attended a conference at the University of St Andrews entitled 'Scotland: The Gendered Nation', which gave me a wider view of the concerns of contemporary Scottish writers and scholars. The paper I presented at the conference, "That great brute of a bunion!": the construction of masculinity in Jessie Kesson�s Glitter of Mica�, was published in the Spring 2001 issue of Scottish Studies Review. Following the conference I spent the rest of May in Scotland finding out more about Kesson and her writing under the generous tutelage of Kesson�s biographer, Dr Isobel (Tait) Murray, from the University of Aberdeen. Kesson wrote many plays for the BBC, and I was able to read Dr Murray�s copies of some of these unpublished works in the security of the Kings College Library, along with back copies of North-East Review to which Kesson contributed. In Edinburgh I visited the National Library of Scotland which holds back copies of The Scots Magazine containing pertinent articles by Kesson and her contemporaries. Then I travelled to those parts of North-East Scotland which feature most precisely in Kesson�s life and writing. My Scottish month was invaluable for its insight into the critical literary climate of Scotland, and for allowing me to reach Jessie Kesson imaginatively: through the boarded-up windows of the Orphanage at Skene; by the ruined Cathedral at Elgin; at the top of Our Lady�s Lane; and on the steps of her cottar house at Westertown Farm. [SEE FOOTNOTE] It was a privilege to trace Kesson�s footsteps and then to return to the other side of the world with a much keener sense of her 'place'. I would like to think this has carried over into my work, the structure of which is as follows: Chapter One gives a brief history of Jessie Kesson�s life and writing. Chapter Two focuses on Jessica Benjamin the feminist psychoanalytic critic whose work provides the main theoretical framework for my thesis. Chapter Three considers the expression of female sexuality in the novella Where the Apple Ripens, and the way society conspires to have it diminish rather than enhance a sense of female self-hood. Where the Apple Ripens is not Kesson�s first published work but, because it introduces the central concerns of my thesis through the experiences of an adolescent girl, I have chosen to begin with it rather than with The White Bird Passes and to work towards increasingly complex gender relations in succeeding chapters. In Chapter Four, The White Bird Passes, I look at the way Kesson depicts girls and women as instruments of male sexuality, controlled by a nervous patriarchy whose institutions (family, education, church) take away the promise of her female characters. Chapter Five is centred on The Glitter of Mica, and considers the consequences of a masculinity constructed around the destruction of 'the Mother'. Chapter Six considers the fate of the anonymous young woman in Another Time, Another Place, and examines the conventions of the social order that deny her self-definition. Chapter Seven also examines the social conventions that shape and limit the lives of Kesson�s female characters - this time in a selection of Kesson�s short stories and poems. In Chapter Eight I look at selected writers from the eighteenth to the twentieth-century whose work, in diverse and often contradictory ways, has contributed to an interrogation of gender in Scottish literature. This is not an historical and systematic survey of gender relations in Scotland; it is not even an historical and systematic survey of gender questions in Scottish literature. Rather, it is an impressionistic account of such matters in some selected Scottish literature - selected in part to cover some highly influential figures, and in part from Jessie Kesson�s more immediate context: feminine, rural, the North East. There is a place for such historical and systematic work, of course, and I hope that someone will do it. All I can hope for is that I may have provided some beginning but more importantly, that my work in this chapter will sharpen, further, an understanding of Jessie Kesson. I begin with the life and work of the poet, Robert Burns. As well as featuring in Kesson�s Glitter of Mica, Burns and his legacy are matters of influence in the gendered ideal of 'Scottishness' for both laymen and writers at home and abroad. Following Burns, I contrast the unconscious gender ideology which permeates Neil Gunn�s writing with the progressive awareness of gender issues that characterises the work of Lewis Grassic Gibbon and aligns the latter with Kesson�s. I then examine the idealised landscapes and sentimentalised characters of the Kailyard era and the hostile response of the anti-Kailyard writers. This leads into an examination of Hugh MacDiarmid�s poem, A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle. MacDiarmid, like Burns, was monumental on the Scottish literary scene and his efforts to rekindle the spirit of the primitive Scot through literature have made him influential with a smaller but equally significant group. What is of particular relevance to my work is that the ideal of 'Scottishness' fostered by writers such as Burns and MacDiarmid is heavily dependent on prescribed gender positions which promote the exploitation of women while rendering them subservient to men and politically powerless. It is from within this environment of gender-based Scottishness that Jessie Kesson and other women writers, were writing and arguing. Therefore, lastly, in Chapter Eight, I concentrate on those women writers whose work has the most relevance to the time, place and ideological content of Kesson�s writing: Violet Jacob, Catherine Carswell, Lorna Moon, Willa Muir and Nan Shepherd. The writing of all of these women is concerned with psychic well-being centred on human relations and/or self-determination and, of the five, the writings of Willa Muir and Nan Shepherd are considered more fully because of the particular contribution they make to my examination of Jessie Kesson: Willa Muir commented, both directly and indirectly, on gender matters. Nan Shepherd, quite apart from being a friend of many years to Jessie Kesson, wrote novels in which gender issues are entirely central. FOOTNOTE: I am indebted to Sir Maitland Mackie for giving me a guided tour of Westertown Farm, the setting for Darklands in The Glitter of Mica.

The novel Children Of The Earth is about transformation. It uses Ovid's Metamorphoses as a metaphor for the processes which occur in the psyche of each character, and is based on Jungian insights into myth and alchemy. Archetypes that underlie the unconscious processes of all humanity are seen in the symbolism of three very different religious traditions, namely Greek mythology, the Hebrew Old Testament and Australian Aboriginal beliefs. I explore the ways in which these three great mythologies might have converged in colonial South Australia. The story deals with the troubled marriage of isolated settler couple, Hestia and Adam George, and the effects on it of three people who come into their lives. Itinerant German mineralogist Johannes Menge ( based on a real life pioneer ) is a self-taught, eccentric polymath, and a devout but unorthodox exponent of the Bible. In Jungian terms he fulfils the role of an archetypal, but flawed, ' Wise Old Man'. Menge represents nineteenth century Protestantism, albeit still trailing some arcane superstitions. His protégé, a disgraced young teacher of classics, calls himself Hermes, and represents the role of Greek mythology in European civilization. Reliving the life of the mercurial god in the antipodes, he becomes messenger, trickster and seducer. Unatildi, an Indigenous girl whom Adam finds in a burnt-out tree trunk, is an archetypal maiden. She introduces the Europeans to the mythology of their new land, as sacred for her people as the Bible is for Johannes Menge. Each of these three characters plays a part in transforming the marriage of Adam and Hestia, and each, in turn, undergoes a personal metamorphosis. Aboriginal women act as midwives at the birth of the love-child of Hestia and Hermes. Named Sophia, after the goddess of wisdom, the new child is thought to have inherited the miwi spirit of Unatildi's lost infant. On his deathbed, as Menge bequeaths his wisdom to his Australian friends, he predicts that Sophia will understand the sacredness of all spiritual life. Eventually Hestia and Adam find themselves changed by their encounters with the archetypes of myth. News of Menge's death on the goldfields gives them the courage they need to begin rebuilding an honest relationship. The novel is 107,400 words in length and is accompanied by an exegesis of 20,170 word, entitled Myth And Alchemy In Creative Writing. The exegesis describes the interactive process of researching and writing, as well as exploring the value of Jungian concepts for creative writing, and current issues of creating Indigenous characters. There is an emphasis on the Jungian approach to mythology and alchemy. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Humanities, 2006.