University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Fall 1998 The role of shame in writing: How lived experience affects the writing process Carol Kountz University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Kountz, Carol, "The role of shame in writing: How lived experience affects the writing process" (1998). Doctoral Dissertations. 2046. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2046 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. 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Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE ROLE OF SHAME IN WRITING: HOW LIVED EXPERIENCE AFFECTS THE WRITING PROCESS BY CAROL KOUNTZ AB University o f Michigan, 1964 ALM Harvard University, 1991 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English September, 1998 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9907588 UMI Microform 9907588 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This dissertation has been examined and approved. Dissertation Director, Patricia A. Sullivan, Associate Professor of English Thomas R. Newkirk, Professor of English EHzaheth Jane Bellamy, Associate Professor of English Paula M. Salvio, Assistant Professor of Education William L. Wansart, Associate Professor o f Education Date'' Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To Dr. Sue Weaver Schopf and the students, faculty and staff of Harvard Extension iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Graduate School of the University of New Hampshire generously supported me in 1997-98 with a dissertation fellowship that freed me to study, think, and write. I am grateful to many friends who shared their resources and time with me, especially Virginia D. and Arthur T. Thompson, Erika Olbricht, Kit Caruthers, Dot Kasik, Allan Collins, Arlene Clogher, and Lenny Fogel. I received help from the dissertation-writing group sponsored by the English Department at UNH, chaired by Professor Sue Schibanoff and including Michelle Payne, Mary Hallet, Dot Kasik, Erika Olbricht, Anne Malone, Molly Doyle, Laurie Quinn, Andrea Harkness, Carol Keyes, Michel Lafontano; these people read early chapters of this dissertation and offered invaluable shaping suggestions. I had support too from UNH fellow students Lance Svehla, Don Jones, Greg Bowe, Barb Tindall, and Michael Freed. The faculty at the English Department at the University of New Hampshire is staunchly supportive of students, and I thank them all for their encouragement, particularly the members of my committee. Professors Patricia A. Sullivan, Thomas R. Newkirk, Elizabeth Jane Bellamy, and from the Education Department Paula Salvio and William Wansart. Credit for smooth working arrangements belongs to the administrator of the UNH English Department, Tory Poulin, and the support staff, Chris Ransom, Ellen Berube, and Heather Robbins. The members of the Institutional Review Board at the iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. University of New Hampshire, who approved the research plan, also offered useful ideas. When I first conceived this project, I gave a tentative description of my plans to Dr. Sue Weaver Schopf, the mainstay of Harvard University Division of Continuing Education, and her phenomenal enthusiasm, which will be familiar to everyone who knows her, as well as her tangible aid in giving me a forum swept me forward into my research. Two people who are fine writers and dedicated teachers stand out as instrumental in writing the dissertation. It would be impossible to tally my visits to Tom Newkirk, who keeps his office door wide open, to ask him for ideas, books, or reassurance Like many others, I rely on his constant presence, wide reading, cogent objections, and pithy counsel. He has a remarkable ability to pace his students through the span of graduate school. The anchor of my dissertation has been Pat Sullivan, my director, and for both o f us this project represents a watershed year. A real scholar, Pat stayed focused on the vision that inspired this research and brought me back to the center of gravity when I was mired in minutia, yet with the instincts of a true English teacher, she scoured every sheet and alerted me to my elliptical tendencies just in time. Finally. I must record my gratitude to two dozen women and men who, often without knowing me, volunteered to reveal their writing experiences, even distressing ones, because they cared about unraveling the problems that often surround writing. Much research that profits the investigator would not exist without such generous, anonymous participation. I hope I have been as forthcoming with their knowledge as they were in offering me their wisdom. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................. >'• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.......................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT x INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1 I SHAME, A BOLD VILLAIN ................................................................................................... 7 Writing as Culture............................................................................................................. 11 Taxonomy of the Writing Environment ..................................................................... 12 Perceiving the Writing Space as Private ....................................................... 13 The Perception of Exposure to Another's Scrutiny ................................. 14 The Illusion of Perfection................................................................................ 16 The Need for Painful Remembering .............................................................. 19 Encouragement for Self-aggrandizement......................................................... 20 Metaphors and Definitions .............................................................................................. 22 Shame: The Savage Censor ............................................................................................25 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Authority and Judgment................................................................................................... 32 A Phenomenological Approach: “A Sense of Dread” 36 II THE DEBATE OVER THE BELIEF IN WRITING ANXIETY ................................. 40 Anxiety as Normal Writing Behavior ............................................................................41 External Triggers of Writers' Anxiety ............................................................................47 Socio-cognitive Writing Anxiety ...................................................................................52