Confronting the dark

Abstract

“Confronting the Dark” is a creative writing thesis comprised of two interrelated parts: Volume 1: The Art of Dying, a novel; and Volume 2: “Representations of death in Australian fiction,” an exegesis. In the novel, Gerard, the main character, is dying. As a consequence of his imminent death, he begins to focus on both the trauma of his early years and the great love he feels privileged to have experienced. The exegesis describes how the practice of writing about death led to a critical inquiry into various philosophies of death that have been of interest to writers, as well as the transformation of the Western approach to death over the past few centuries, brought about by modernity. It presents a case study of two Australian novels, Helen Garner’s The Spare Room (2008), and Patrick White’s The Vivisector (1970). I discuss the writing of my own novel in light of the reflexive agency required for creative writing research and in terms of creative writing habitat, the creative domain, activities of writing, and the artefact. I conclude that writing about death occurs for primarily existential reasons. Writers are asking questions about how human beings feel about their impending death, how they cope with life goals and the possibility of unfinished business, and how the death of the other affects the lives of those who remain.