Date of Award

1-1-1984

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Teaching & Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate writers' perceptions of how they came to name themselves as writer. While many researchers have investigated the act of writing, little has been done to discover what the adult writer perceives to have been experientially important as a child and adult in the process of becoming and naming one's self writer. This study focused on the experiences writers perceived to be important in the act of naming.Literary and psychological concepts of the writer throughout history were examined and the philosophical views of Merleau-Ponty and Walker Percy that specifically pertain to naming and being-in-the-world were presented. Writers' perspectives on being practitioners of writing were also summarized in the review of literature.Three writers for whom writing is a central part of their lives were interviewed for a period of six to eight hours using several questions developed by the researcher that related to the five research questions of this study: (1) How does a writer name himself or herself as writer? (2) When does a writer name himself or herself as writer? (3) Does naming self as writer affect how one views the world in relation to self and what one perceives? (4) What experiences does the writer see as important in his or her development in the naming process? (5) Do writers identify stages of development in naming themselves as writer?The study indicated that the three writers could and did identify times from childhood to adulthood when they named themselves writer. There seemed to be three stages or levels in naming: an early intuitive knowledge that one is a writer, actual involvement in writing, and commitment to writing as career. A difference was also noted between the poet and prose writers when genre was discussed. The poet related many instances from childhood and adulthood that described the effect and power of language for him. The prose writers related more instances of scenes, relationships, or development of stories and fantasies as children than did the poet and expressed more of an interest in creating worlds as adult writers.

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