Bruseke, Marc Richard (2023) Cape Town/ International - The Preparation of a Memoir. Doctoral thesis, York St John University.

Text (Doctoral thesis) Cape Town International - The Preparation of a Memoir.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 26 November 2026. Download (287MB) Request a copy

Abstract

Cape Town/ International is a practice-led creative non-fiction work in three parts. The first part is a reflexive narrative of the author’s family and early years. The second part makes up the theoretical spine that outlines practical and theoretical considerations of methodology and philosophy. The second part sits as a barre oblique. The ‘slash’ (/) in the project’s title. The third part is a reflexive travel narrative of time spent in Russia, Mongolia, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, India, and Malaysia. The work emphasises an experimental and disruptive methodology to explore a novel approach to life-writing. The methodology explores the self ’s identity and the text’s expectations. A visually fuelled writing technique the author has named ‘photo-sketching’ drives the creative narratives. The development of fragmented textual narratives is central to this visual technique. This practice's scholarly inspirations are owed to Roland Barthes and Walter Benjamin, particularly the notion of ‘self ’ as ‘text’, visual literacy, and the concept of text being finished/unfinished. The practice presented here uses the works of Barthes and Benjamin to expand this area of study through application. Cape Town/ International details a new living methodology that can be applied to life-writing practices. The work is an argument in practice for the shape a text can take and how it can be constructed. The work is also highly personal and is therapeutic towards self-discovery. This practice-led exploration culminates in a unique contribution to the field of creative non-fiction, redefining the art of life-writing. Cape Town/ International reflects a journey of personal discovery. It serves as a blueprint for future explorations in the genre, advocating for a more expansive, inclusive, and visually rich narrative form.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Status:	Published
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
School/Department:	School of Humanities
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/11111

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