| This study explores the relationship between the objective and subjective in writing that connects theory with experience. The dissertation argues that when the tropes of literary genres, particularly biography and autobiography, are applied to modes of psychological self-reflection, the interplay between objective and subjective create a fruitful hermeneutic interdependence between subject and object. Further, the dissertation seeks to illustrate how this dialectic between subject and object opens up an imaginary in-between space between the conscious and unconscious minds. This study considers styles of narration, use of personal voice, the validity of imaginary realities, and the importance of art and aesthetics in biography and autobiography.;The study incorporates elements of an art-based approach to blend aspects of both empirical and introspective types of research. Thus, the study attempts to illuminate how theory and personal narrative might provide different but equally valid perspectives on the topic. The investigation considers how narratives are constructed, how fiction can be a truthful recreation of fact, and how aesthetics is important to the stories we hear and tell. The theoretical and personal narrative perspectives mirror and reflect the topic from the objective and subjective, respectively.;An art-based approach to research was chosen since such an approach emphasizes the relationships between the researcher and topic, between observation and introspection, and between theory and practice. Within the context of the art-based approach, a hermeneutic method is used to describe and delineate the relationship between the objective and subjective, the use of story and narrative, the nature and application of voice, the relationship between fact and fiction, and the power of the imaginal. The study draws entirely on material written from a Jungian analytical perspective. |
