Writer-as-narrator: engaging the debate around the (un)reliable narrator in memoir and the personal essay Freeman, Robin and Le Rossignol, Karen 2015, Writer-as-narrator: engaging the debate around the (un)reliable narrator in memoir and the personal essay, Text: journal of writing and writing programs, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 1-1. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads freeman-writerasnarrator-2015.pdf Published version application/pdf 419.15KB 686 Title Writer-as-narrator: engaging the debate around the (un)reliable narrator in memoir and the personal essay Author(s) Freeman, Robin Le Rossignol, Karen orcid.org/0000-0002-3826-1156 Journal name Text: journal of writing and writing programs Volume number 19 Issue number 1 Start page 1 End page 1 Total pages 1 Publisher Australasian Association of Writing Programs Place of publication Nathan, Qld. Publication date 2015-04 ISSN 1327-9556 Keyword(s) first-person creative nonfiction reliable narrator writer-as-narrator Summary Subjective and personal forms of nonfiction writing are enjoying exponential popularity in English language publishing currently, as an interested public engages with ‘true’ stories of society and culture. Yet a paradox exists at the centre of this form of writing. As readers, we want to know who the writer is and what she has to tell us. Yet as writers we use a persona, a constructed character, a narrator who is only partially the writer, to deliver the narrative. How is a writer able to convey ‘true’ stories that are inherently reliant on memory, within a constructed narrative persona?We find a ‘gap’ between the writer and the narrator/protagonist on the page, an empowered creative space in which composition occurs, facilitating a balance between the facts and lived experiences from which ‘true’ stories are crafted, and the acknowledged fallibility of human memory. While the gap between writer and writer-as-narrator provides an enabling space for creative composition, it also creates space for the perception of unreliability. The width of this gap, we argue, is crucial. Only if the gap is small, if writer and writer-as-narrator share a set of passionately held values, can the writer-as-narrator become a believable entity, satisfying the reader with the ‘truth’ of their story. Notes Reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright owner. Language eng Field of Research 190402 Creative Writing (incl Playwriting) Socio Economic Objective 950104 The Creative Arts (incl. Graphics and Craft) HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2015, The Authors Free to Read? Yes Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30073546 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Arts and Education School of Communication and Creative Arts Open Access Collection Related Links Link Description Connect to published version Go to link with your DU access privileges   Connect to Elements publication management system Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Fri, 29 May 2015, 13:41:48 EST Sat, 30 May 2015, 05:02:14 EST Mon, 15 Jun 2015, 14:31:53 EST Sat, 29 Aug 2015, 06:10:47 EST Thu, 10 Sep 2015, 12:40:38 EST Thu, 10 Sep 2015, 12:46:00 EST Wed, 06 Dec 2017, 06:15:00 EST Fri, 07 Sep 2018, 17:32:44 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 1471 Abstract Views, 686 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Fri, 29 May 2015, 13:41:48 EST