Abstract
This is a creative thesis that focuses on the infertility experiences of the author. The introduction examines the author's justification for choosing personal essay as a genre and French feminism as the guiding theory in writing the essays. Six personal essays center on the author's attempts to have a child and the discoveries and failures along the way. Throughout literary history, women's bodies have traditionally been viewed from the outside looking in, as objects to be reified and preserved or exploited and used. Using the writing the body critics as a theoretical framework, the essays discuss the comforts and discomforts of being inside a female body looking out. Although personal, the essays attempt to connect to the larger world. In several of the essays associations are made between the experiences of the author and the experiences of other women. Several essays also reveal the differing perspectives between her and her husband as they experience infertility.
Degree
MA
College and Department
Humanities; English
Rights
http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Christiansen, Naomi Lund, "Learning to Create: A Collection of Personal Essays" (2004). Theses and Dissertations. 171.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/171
Date Submitted
2004-07-09
Document Type
Thesis
Handle
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd485
Keywords
personal essay, infertility, pregnancy, creative nonfiction, French feminism
Language
English