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A myth of her own| A study of Anais Nin's self-life writing

<p> Both her feminine subjectivity and extensive time frame (ranging from 1914-1974), make the works of Ana&iuml;s Nin an important example of the depth and range of self-exploration, perhaps more so than in previous writers. Nin was committed to a creative process inclusive of psyche, the body and aesthetics derived from her own life experiences. This analysis of the mythic tropes that permeate Nin&rsquo;s literary diaries and fiction demonstrates the ways in which Nin created a mythic style of her own, which contrasts with the aesthetics of T.S. Eliot&rsquo;s mythic method. In fact, as a late Modernist, Nin particularly emphasized what this dissertation will call earth mother consciousness as a response to the wasteland of her time, and as a way to create a connection between literature and life. Thus, a better understanding of Nin&rsquo;s literary achievements emerges through a study of a mythic perspective, which helps to secure Nin&rsquo;s belonging in the literary canon. </p><p> This archetypal analysis shows myth playing a fluid role that reveals psyche in the process of writing a continuously changing sense of self into a personal myth of her own, revealing the extensive possibilities of an opulent feminine psyche. The literary diary, for Nin, is a genre that with its traces of the trickstar/trickster archetype, among others, reveals a mercurial, yet particular understanding of an internalized and embodied experience as a writer. Keywords: Ana&iuml;s Nin, modernism, mythology, literary diaries, women&rsquo;s studies, feminism, personal myth, archetypes, trickstar, trickster, Jung, self-life writing.</p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10009503
Date17 February 2016
CreatorsOropeza, Clara
PublisherPacifica Graduate Institute
Source SetsProQuest.com
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typethesis

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