Kintsugi and Fragments, Form, Fragility, Strength: Essaying the Remembered Self

Abstract

This thesis explores the multiplicity and mutability of the essay genre, memory and identity. It utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to bring cognitive neuroscience, life writing scholarship, literary studies and cultural theory into conversation with creative writing; to narrow the gap between life as we experience it and write it. Creative and critical components not only reflect, but add to our appreciation of autobiographic memory, genre and identity as states of becoming rather than being.