University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 1994 Circling the mountain: from naming to namelessness: towards writing and performing a contemporary epic poem Merlinda Bobis University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Bobis, Merlinda, Circling the mountain: from naming to namelessness: towards writing and performing a contemporary epic poem, Doctor of Creative Arts thesis, School of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, 1994. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/948 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library:
[email protected] CJIRCUNG THE MOUN'rAJIN: FROM MAMJING TO MAMlBJLJBSSNBSS Towards Writing and Performing a Contemporary Epic Poem A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree DOCTOR OF CREATIVE ARTS from THE UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG by MERLINDA BOBIS B.A. (AUL), M.A. (UST) SCHOOL OF CREATIVE ARTS 1994 ABSTRACT Circling The Mountain: From Naming To Namelessness is an annotated document which supports a 20,000 word epic poem (in two versions: English and Filipino) entitled Kantada ng Babaing MandirigmalCantata of The Warrior Woman Daragang Magayon. This explanatory text documents the process involved in writing and performing my epic, in which I recast a traditional myth about the active volcano Mt. Mayon in my region Bikol in the Philippines. Through a discussion on feminism, language and the epic genre, this story of my creative process also explains the thesis of my epic poem: re-inventing the Self beyond rigidified and oppressive definitions of identity. This process of becoming is examined through three principal sections: naming, unnaming and namelessness.