Middle sea dreaming : writing the Mediterranean

Abstract

The dissertation consists of two parts distinguished by the writing approach, either creative memoir or critical academic, used in each. The creative half comprises an edited and self-contained novella, Middle Sea Dreaming, extracted from a Much larger work in the genres of memoir and travelogue. The selected novella focuses on my first visit to Alexandria and identifies the perspective that informs both the novella and the full work entitled Middle Sea Dreaming: Short Stories on a Long Journey. The novella also establishes the structure used throughout in that episodes of travel are followed by interludes of reflection on those travels whilst at home in Malta. For the purposes of the dissertation, located in the trans-disciplinary study of the Mediterranean, the creative novella has become a primary resource for critical academic review that seeks to draw out the theoretical framework that emerges in the creative iterations of experience and reflection. I have chosen to present the two sections such that a critical chapter follows on from a creative segment beginning with the introduction that follows the creative prologue. This structure serves to indicate the emergent nature of the theorisation and the nexus between the creative writing and the academic. This is reflected in the use of different presentation conventions in each writing form. Nevertheless, the sequencing enables the emergence of a cohesive perspective on stories of the Mediterranean.

The novella, Middle Sea Dreaming, consists of Prologue, three Episodes with their Interludes, and an Epilogue. The critical analysis consists of Introduction, three Chapters and a Conclusion. The focus is Egypt, where I begin my travels, but creative reflection in Malta, as well as the critical analysis, draws out the context of the Mediterranean as a region. The critical, academic chapters locate my travel experience and reflection in the more abstract and general discourse of the trans-disciplinary study of the Mediterranean. The use of feminist theoretical critical analysis challenges the construction of women as silenced in the shaping of Mediterranean stories and this silencing is also a theme of the novella.