The rooms we build: poems of place and memory
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Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
The rooms we build is my Master’s thesis in creative writing. My thesis consists of two parts. The first
part is a semi-autobiographical collection of poems, prose poems and short fiction pieces entitled
“Letters to ourselves”. The second part is a reflexive essay entitled “The rooms we build”, that briefly
examines mental health, memory and place as forms of connection and disconnection, with specific
reference to my creative component. In my creative component, “Letters to ourselves”, I use an
epistolary form to express the breakdown of human relationships as a result of a lack of
communication. The idea and process of letter writing, seen through the form of this collection, is
intended to analyse the effects of catharsis on grief, loss of communication and mental health. A
deconstruction of relationships through memory and loss becomes the main focal point. Overall, this
collection seeks to understand the human condition and how catharsis found in letter writing can be a
way of expressing memory.
Description
Magister Artium - MA
Keywords
Mental illness, Memory loss, Poems, Creative writing, Public health, Durban