ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 surveys the extensive trajectory of how the genre of self-life writing expanded from definitions assigned exclusively by men, to those being shaped by the current, more inclusive terms of feminist scholars. By tracing the prominent feminist voices whose work debunked the mainstream, established definition of self-life writing, I show that Nin’s diaries contribute to shifting the conception of generalizing and literalizing views of truth and self-construction. I link C. G. Jung’s notion of “personal myth” to Nin’s own psychic process that contributes to the construction of a pluralistic sense of self as recorded in her diaries. Nin’s diaries, I show, embody a creativity that reflects raw material (prima materia) to alchemize a new myth by which to be guided.
