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Sandra Arnold (International) assertion Sandra Arnold i(A128865 works by)
Gender: Female
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1 y separately published work icon Meniscus vol. 2 no. 1 March Sandra Arnold (editor), 2014 9002169 2014 periodical issue poetry short story
1 Living in Stories : Creative Nonfiction as an Effective Genre for Writing About Death and Bereavement Sandra Arnold , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , October vol. 13 no. 2 2009; 'Through the telling of stories and interaction with listener or audience, we give structure to our experience and create order and meaning. Written narrative is, therefore, a medium well suited to exploring the experience of death and bereavement. 'We live in stories, not statistics,' Gilbert says (2002: 223). Parents' stories of their children's deaths serve the same purpose as parents' stories of their living children's ongoing lives. Writing about the death of one's child is a way not only to continue bonds and help other bereaved parents, but also a way to allow the 'wounded storyteller' to give voice to the dead and facilitate catharsis in the teller. Utilising the techniques of creative nonfiction to write such a story, the writer can create a compelling narrative that allows writer and reader to enter 'the space of the story for the other'. This paper discusses the human affinity with story telling and the reasons the bereaved write their stories. It also defines the genre of creative nonfiction and outlines the history of its development. Finally it examines four creative nonfiction texts that have influenced my own writing on the topic of parental bereavement.'
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