Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Award Date
2015
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Christine Stewart
Keywords
memoir, adoption, creative writing
Abstract
Adoption writings span across various forms, such as fiction, non-fiction, essays, poetry, theatre, and scholarly fields of study. While many of these adoption writings speak to the complexities of adoption, the general public still tends to see adoption “such a beautiful thing” to do—as the best plan for the child, a noble act, a selfless decision, and a solution to a long-standing social issue. This thesis explores the “literary adoption memoir”—artful writings about real life happenings; my contribution to this genre addresses the complexities of the closed adoption era, transnational/transracial adoption, and parenting an adoptee as an adult adoptee. For this project, I share my process and the theories that validate and inform my felt experiences as an adoptee and as an adoptive mom. I use the literary tools in the creative nonfiction genre to write not a mere record of events of my adoption, of adopting our daughter, of searching for my birth family. I offer pieces of creative nonfiction that represent my desire for a final project: a literary adoption memoir—a memoir of real life that borrows from the literary world, and a memoir that speaks to the complications in adoption—to loss, abandonment, belonging, identity, and rejection.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Adoption
Adoptive parents -- Biography
Description
Includes bibliographical references (pages 88-90)
Format
application/pdf
Number of Pages
98
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Rights
Copyright 2015 Jamie K. Nagy
Recommended Citation
Nagy, Jamie K., "Composing a Literary Adoption Memoir and Self Through Creative Nonfiction Memoir Writing" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/2