Open AccessThe Creative Process, Memoir, And Redemption
Author(s) -
Lawrence Karn,
Takahiko Hattori
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
contemporary issues in education research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1941-756X
pISSN - 1940-5847
DOI - 10.19030/cier.v11i1.10132
Subject(s) - memoir , framing (construction) , sociology , narrative , reflexivity , postmodernism , aesthetics , power (physics) , identity (music) , social constructionism , epistemology , social science , literature , history , art , philosophy , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics
Stories live to be told to others, Dan McAdams (2008) writes:
Life stories therefore are continually made and remade in social relationships and in the overall social context provided by culture. As psychosocial constructions, life stories reflect the values, norms, and power differentials inherent in societies, wherein they have their constitutive meanings. The construction of coherent life stories is an especially challenging problem for adults living in contemporary modern (and postmodern) societies, wherein selves are viewed as reflexive projects imbued with complexity and depth, ever changing yet demanding a coherent framing.
This paper considers the memoir as a kind of life story, to be explored through selected memoirists, researchers, and scholars by focusing on the relationship between identity construction, memory, history, and imagination. Narrative structure, as well as the compelling experiences and ideas detailed in memoirs, will be analyzed to arrive at a better understanding of issues related to the creative process.