HDR Summer School 2016 Dr Patrick West 1

 The exegesis has always been with us in different forms and under various names, yet it still puzzles many writers and HDR students. This workshop will provide an introduction to various models of the exegesis, detail the different ways in which the exegesis may be related to the creative product, discuss examiners’ expectations of the exegesis, and advise on how to guard against the most common pitfalls of exegesis writing. The exegesis is an exciting and constantly evolving mode of writing and my hope is that participants will come to see how they can work within the tradition of the exegesis while shaping it to suit their own creative and research purposes. 2

 What is an exegesis? 3

 What is the relationship of the exegesis to the creative product? 4

 What is an exegesis?  What is the relationship of the exegesis to the creative product?  What is the relationship of the exegesis and the creative product to the research question? 5

 What is an exegesis?  What is the relationship of the exegesis to the creative product?  What is the relationship of the exegesis and the creative product to the research question?  What should an exegesis do and how should it do it? 6

 What is an exegesis?  What is the relationship of the exegesis to the creative product?  What is the relationship of the exegesis and the creative product to the research question?  What should an exegesis do and how should it do it?  How can we take advantage of the exegesis as an evolving and creative mode of writing? 7

 The HDR exegesis (plural, exegeses) is a piece of moderately serious and detailed explanatory and/or investigative writing that comments on and/or seeks to explain the writer’s creative product and craft and/or process and, together with the creative product, forms an integral element of a thesis that addresses a research question or questions.  Exegesis—from the Greek verb exegemai meaning ‘to lead’, ‘to relate in detail’, ‘to expound’. (Biblical Exegesis by John H. Hayes & Carl R. Holladay [John Knox Press, 1982])  Exegesis— ‘(An) exposition, esp. of Scripture; a gloss, an explanatory note or discourse.’ (The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary) 8

 There is a long tradition of artists writing about their creative work without necessarily using the term ‘exegesis’.  Examples include: prefaces; introductions; forewords; afterwords; author’s notes; footnotes.  Present-day understandings of the exegesis are very much in flux and open to new interpretation as they re-inflect this nest of examples.  Nigel Krauth, ‘The Preface as Exegesis’ TEXT 6:1, April

 It is not a ‘project statement’ or ‘statement of intent’…  …it is written after the creative work not before. 10

 It is not a ‘project statement’ or ‘statement of intent’…  …it is written after the creative work not before.  It is not a piece of literary or arts criticism or a review…  … it is written by the creative writer or arts practitioner about their own work and takes advantage of that fact. 11

 It is not a ‘project statement’ or ‘statement of intent’…  …it is written after the creative work not before.  It is not a piece of literary or arts criticism or a review…  … it is written by the creative writer or arts practitioner about their own work and takes advantage of that fact.  It is not a piece of creative writing in itself…  … it is a piece of non-fiction writing (though sometimes, perhaps, it can be in the creative non-fiction mode or even, very rarely, it might resemble a piece of creative writing itself). 12

 1.) Context model: “rehearses the historical, social and/or disciplinary context(s) within which the student developed the creative or production component of her or his thesis.” Binary relationship; exegesis privileged  2.) Commentary model: “an explication of, or comment on, the creative production.” Binary relationship; creative work privileged  3.) Research-Question model: “In this model both the exegetical and the creative component of the research thesis hinges on a research question posed, refined and reposed by the student across the several stages of a research program. Both the written and the creative component of the thesis are conceptualised as independent answers to the same research question” No binary; exegesis and creative work address the same research- question differently and equally  Barbara H. Milech & Ann Schilo, “‘Exit Jesus’: Relating the Exegesis and Creative/Production Components of a Research Thesis” TEXT Special Issue 3, April

 1.) Research-Question Model*.  2.) Context Model.  3.) Commentary Model.  4.) Literary Criticism or Art Critical Model.  5.) Professional Model.  6.) Artist’s Statement Model.  7.) The Exegesis By Other Names Model (Preface, Introduction, Author’s Note, Etc.)  * Our focus today is on model 1.) 14

 The exegesis and the creative product jointly address one or usually at least two research questions using the affordances (possibilities of relationship) that each part possesses. 15

 The exegesis and the creative product jointly address one or usually at least two research questions using the affordances (possibilities of relationship) that each part possesses.  The HDR candidate in the creative arts needs to be able to answer this question: what does my creative product allow me to say about my research question that I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to say? 16

 The exegesis and the creative product jointly address one or usually at least two research questions using the affordances (possibilities of relationship) that each part possesses.  The HDR candidate in the creative arts needs to be able to answer this question: what does my creative product allow me to say about my research question that I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to say?  The exegesis says things the creative product can’t say, and vice versa. They speak and mean differently. They have different voices. 17

 Theses in the creative arts should address a research question that would be recognizable, in its form, to researchers in the Humanities or Social Sciences as enabling an original contribution to knowledge (craft based or otherwise) building on previous research. 18

 Theses in the creative arts should address a research question that would be recognizable, in its form, to researchers in the Humanities or Social Sciences as enabling an original contribution to knowledge (craft based or otherwise) building on previous research.  All theses in the creative arts inevitably answer at least one research question (some question of craft) precisely because they employ craft as their research in the creation of the creative product. 19

 Theses in the creative arts should address a research question that would be recognizable, in its form, to researchers in the Humanities or Social Sciences as enabling an original contribution to knowledge (craft based or otherwise) building on previous research.  All theses in the creative arts inevitably answer at least one research question (some question of craft) precisely because they employ craft as their research in the creation of the creative product.  Creative artists can learn more about their own craft (knowledge transferable to themselves) by observing how craft is used in any given thesis to address a research question of whatever sort. 20

 HDR students in the creative arts have an important choice to make in their choice of a principal research question. 21

 HDR students in the creative arts have an important choice to make in their choice of a principal research question.  If they choose a principal research question focused on craft then they have only one principal research question to answer. 22

 HDR students in the creative arts have an important choice to make in their choice of a principal research question.  If they choose a principal research question focused on craft then they have only one principal research question to answer.  If they choose a principal research question unrelated to craft then they will necessarily be answering two principal questions (the first of non-craft and the second of craft). 23

 HDR students in the creative arts have an important choice to make in their choice of a principal research question.  If they choose a principal research question focused on craft then they have only one principal research question to answer.  If they choose a principal research question unrelated to craft then they will necessarily be answering two principal questions (the first of non-craft and the second of craft).  A craft-focused principal research question may be either explicit or implicit. 24

 Principal and secondary research questions are related as aim is related to methodology. 25

 Principal and secondary research questions are related as aim is related to methodology.  The secondary research question is the methodological question you need to answer along the way to answering your principal research question. 26

 Principal and secondary research questions are related as aim is related to methodology.  The secondary research question is the methodological question you need to answer along the way to answering your principal research question.  This secondary or methodological research question is always a form of: what do I have to do in my creative product to answer my principal research question? 27

 Principal and secondary research questions are related as aim is related to methodology.  The secondary research question is the methodological question you need to answer along the way to answering your principal research question.  This secondary or methodological research question is always a form of: what do I have to do in my creative product to answer my principal research question?  If your principal research question is already about craft then your secondary research question logically draws closer to your principal research question. 28

 Principal and secondary research questions are related as aim is related to methodology.  The secondary research question is the methodological question you need to answer along the way to answering your principal research question.  This secondary or methodological research question is always a form of: what do I have to do in my creative product to answer my principal research question?  If your principal research question is already about craft then your secondary research question logically draws closer to your principal research question.  If your principal research question is not about craft then your secondary research question also operates as a second principal research question. 29

 In drawing out what the creative product offers by way of an answer to the principal research question, the exegesis necessarily reflects on the craft and/or process of the creative product. 30

 In drawing out what the creative product offers by way of an answer to the principal research question, the exegesis necessarily reflects on the craft and/or process of the creative product.  Craft is always in consideration either as a means to answering a non-craft research question or as the sole research question (as in, a research question about craft theory or the study of craft). 31

 In drawing out what the creative product offers by way of an answer to the principal research question, the exegesis necessarily reflects on the craft and/or process of the creative product.  Craft is always in consideration either as a means to answering a non-craft research question or as the sole research question (as in, a research question about craft theory or the study of craft).  Either way, an explicit or implicit principal research question of craft is always present. 32

 In drawing out what the creative product offers by way of an answer to the principal research question, the exegesis necessarily reflects on the craft and/or process of the creative product.  Craft is always in consideration either as a means to answering a non-craft research question or as the sole research question (as in, a research question about craft theory or the study of craft).  Either way, an explicit or implicit principal research question of craft is always present.  Other artists can always learn about their own craft from your thesis no matter the focus of your principal research question. The creative product packaged by the thesis draws attention to itself as a creative product apart from anything else. 33

 Traditional literary or creative-arts criticism focuses on (final) product and tends to bracket off the craft and/or process leading to the product. 34

 Traditional literary or creative-arts criticism focuses on (final) product and tends to bracket off the craft and/or process leading to the product.  The writer of the exegesis does not have God-given insight into the meaning of his/her work, but he/she does have some sort of privileged insight into the product’s craft and/or process. 35

 Traditional literary or creative-arts criticism focuses on (final) product and tends to bracket off the craft and/or process leading to the product.  The writer of the exegesis does not have God- given insight into the meaning of his/her work, but he/she does have some sort of privileged insight into the product’s craft and/or process.  The writer of the exegesis is well advised to see the so-called ‘final product’ of his/her craft and/or process as only another stage of craft or process. 36

 Traditional literary or creative-arts criticism focuses on (final) product and tends to bracket off the craft and/or process leading to the product.  The writer of the exegesis does not have God-given insight into the meaning of his/her work, but he/she does have some sort of privileged insight into the product’s craft and/or process.  The writer of the exegesis is well advised to see the so-called ‘final product’ of his/her craft and/or process as only another stage of craft or process.  Craft and/or process is a space of trying things out and considering the results. Product is always ‘in process’. The ‘final product’ is not the end of craft and/or process. 37

 Traditional literary or creative-arts criticism focuses on (final) product and tends to bracket off the craft and/or process leading to the product.  The writer of the exegesis does not have God-given insight into the meaning of his/her work, but he/she does have some sort of privileged insight into the product’s craft and/or process.  The writer of the exegesis is well advised to see the so- called ‘final product’ of his/her craft and/or process as only another stage of craft or process.  Craft and/or process is a space of trying things out and considering the results. Product is always ‘in process’. The ‘final product’ is not the end of craft and/or process.  The exegesis is an opportunity to write about product as both an end point and a starting point of craft and/or process. 38

 In answering the thesis research questions, the exegesis must talk about the creative product and its process and/or craft, and more.  The exegesis should also bring in new material relevant to the thesis research questions, but it must put such material into a dialogue with the creative product and its process and/or craft.  From the dialogue of the creative product (including its process and/or craft) with other material such as theory or previous contributions to knowledge (including other creative products) an original contribution to knowledge emerges. 39

 Principal Research Question (PRQ): ‘What are the political possibilities of democracy in an age of Western democratic hegemony?’ (Which could be the question of a traditional HDR thesis in the Humanities or Social Sciences.) 40

 Principal Research Question (PRQ): ‘What are the political possibilities of democracy in an age of Western democratic hegemony?’ (Which could be the question of a traditional HDR thesis in the Humanities or Social Sciences.)  PRQ transferred to creative product (let’s say, a novel) as Secondary Research or methodology Question (SRQ): ‘What technical issues are involved in using character as an instance of group democracy in a novel?’ (This question allows us to answer PRQ by prompting a methodology.) 41

 Principal Research Question (PRQ): ‘What are the political possibilities of democracy in an age of Western democratic hegemony?’ (Which could be the question of a traditional HDR thesis in the Humanities or Social Sciences.)  PRQ transferred to creative product (let’s say, a novel) as Secondary Research or methodology Question (SRQ): ‘What technical issues are involved in using character as an instance of group democracy in a novel?’ (This question allows us to answer PRQ by prompting a methodology.)  Now, the SRQ becomes the additional principal research question (craft based) through the answer it provides to an implicit question of craft: ‘What new practices of characterization emerge from the attempt to answer the principal research question’? (Useful to any novelist.) 42

 Principal Research Question (PRQ): ‘What are the political possibilities of democracy in an age of Western democratic hegemony?’ (Which could be the question of a traditional HDR thesis in the Humanities or Social Sciences.)  PRQ transferred to creative product (let’s say, a novel) as Secondary Research or methodology Question (SRQ): ‘What technical issues are involved in using character as an instance of group democracy in a novel?’ (This question allows us to answer PRQ by prompting a methodology.)  Now, the SRQ becomes the additional principal research question (craft based) through the answer it provides to an implicit question of craft: ‘What new practices of characterization emerge from the attempt to answer the principal research question’? (Useful to any novelist.)  So, a non-craft based PRQ generates an answer to a craft question only implicitly asked and two PRQs emerge. 43

 Principal Research Question (PRQ): ‘How can we create a new theory of characterization for the novel?’ (Which has the traditional structure of a thesis question in its attempt to make an original contribution to knowledge.) 44

 Principal Research Question (PRQ): ‘How can we create a new theory of characterization for the novel?’ (Which has the traditional structure of a thesis question in its attempt to make an original contribution to knowledge.)  PRQ transferred to creative product (in this case, a novel) as Secondary Research or methodology Question (SRQ): ‘What novelistic approach provides the best environment or hope for a new theory of characterization?’ (This question stays close to the PRQ because the PRQ is already about craft and methodology and craft are closely related.) 45

 Principal Research Question (PRQ): ‘How can we create a new theory of characterization for the novel?’ (Which has the traditional structure of a thesis question in its attempt to make an original contribution to knowledge.)  PRQ transferred to creative product (in this case, a novel) as Secondary Research or methodology Question (SRQ): ‘What novelistic approach provides the best environment or hope for a new theory of characterization?’ (This question stays close to the PRQ because the PRQ is already about craft and methodology and craft are closely related.)  Now, the SRQ and the PRQ tend to merge as the implicit question of craft has already been stated explicitly as the original PRQ. 46

 Principal Research Question (PRQ): ‘How can we create a new theory of characterization for the novel?’ (Which has the traditional structure of a thesis question in its attempt to make an original contribution to knowledge.)  PRQ transferred to creative product (in this case, a novel) as Secondary Research or methodology Question (SRQ): ‘What novelistic approach provides the best environment or hope for a new theory of characterization?’ (This question stays close to the PRQ because the PRQ is already about craft and methodology and craft are closely related.)  Now, the SRQ and the PRQ tend to merge as the implicit question of craft has already been stated explicitly as the original PRQ.  {Note to examples 1 & 2: usually there will be two PRQs at most (one explicit and one implicit), but there can be several SRQs or methodology questions.} 47

 That by producing an exegesis and a novel (poetry collection, theatre production, feature film, installation… ) for your PhD you are,  1.) Potentially, depending on your type of question, bringing the resources of the creative arts to bear on a research question previously only addressed through conventional Humanities or Social Sciences approaches,  2.) Inevitably, by virtue of producing a work of art, saying something new about craft that will be of value to other novelists (poets, scriptwriters, directors, installation artists, etc.)  Depending on its first choice of PRQ, therefore, a higher degree in the creative arts makes at least one, and possibly two, original contributions to knowledge.  Or, to put it another way, an original methodology is the necessary and sufficient condition of a higher degree in the creative arts, and the basis upon which one or two original contributions to knowledge can be made. 48

 “Theses in the creative arts (visual arts, media arts, performing arts and creative and professional writing) may be presented in one of two forms: a conventional written thesis, or a thesis comprising creative work and a supporting written exegesis. In the creative work plus exegesis model, both components are examined. Together they need to demonstrate a substantial original contribution to knowledge. The purpose of the exegesis is to elucidate the creative work's themes and/or place it in a disciplinary context and/or explore the creative processes involved. In the latter case, it may provide guidance to the examiner regarding the sequence of development in the creative work.”  See, “Thesis Structure, Options (Deakin Uni.)” doctoral-and-masters/thesis-structure-options doctoral-and-masters/thesis-structure-options 49

 Exegesis and creative work should be of equal importance to the total thesis as “a substantial original contribution to knowledge.”  Though related, the exegesis and the creative work should be coherent and read well separately (eventually, one or both may be published separately, especially the creative work).  The relationship of exegesis and creative work should be plainly and frequently stated, including in the thesis abstract, as a relationship orientated to one or more research questions. 50

 The exegesis should be between 20% and 50% of the thesis word count, for example:  100,000 word PhD = exegesis of 20-50,000 words.  50,000 word Masters = exegesis of 10-25,000 words.  The exegesis generally comes after the creative product in order.  Confirm most appropriate word lengths and specific requirements for your discipline with your supervisor.  The thesis abstract and, if possible, the three titles should make explicit the relationship of the creative work and the exegesis in your particular thesis.  You need (1) an overall title and subtitle for the thesis, (2) a title for the creative work, and (3) a title for the exegesis (headed “Exegesis:”).  It is important to distinguish the overall thesis as creative work plus exegesis from the creative work contained within the thesis. 51

 You need (1) an overall title and subtitle for the thesis, (2) a title for the creative work, and (3) a title for the exegesis (headed “Exegesis:”).  1.) A Sibling Romance: The Sound of Romance Reimagined  2.) Novel: A Sibling Romance – A Story of Sisters and Sensuality  3.) Exegesis: The Acoustic Body: Towards a Reconfiguration of the Senses in the Romantic Novel 52

 To the extent that the exegesis addresses a research question alongside the creative work in non-fictional form (usually), the construction of an exegesis may adopt the voice of an academic persona and be modeled on the academic essay.  The structure employed may then be close to that of the traditional academic essay structure: Description; Analysis; Critique.  Other exegesis voices and structures are possible.  What keeps the voices of the creative work and the exegesis apart is that the voice of the exegesis, though it may adopt any voice (even, at the limit of imitation, the same voice used in the creative work) always needs to be at some level an exegetical voice.  An exegetical voice can look behind the scenes of the creative work—it is (in our academic context) the voice of the maker after he/she has finished making, if only provisionally. 53

 Treating it like a conventional exercise in (literary or other) theory or criticism: “The exegesis is in no sense a separate exercise in art theoretical discourse, which would be undertaken only in the case of a theoretical thesis…” DEAKIN UNIVERSITY— ADVICE TO EXAMINERS OF HIGHER DEGREES BY RESEARCH: DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY AND MASTERS DEGREES IN THE PERFORMING ARTS /Doctor-of-Philosophy-and-Masters-Degrees-in-the- Performing-Arts.pdf /Doctor-of-Philosophy-and-Masters-Degrees-in-the- Performing-Arts.pdf  Forgetting that the exegesis is one third of three parts: creative product; exegesis; research question.  Forgetting that your examiner will be both academic and creative-arts practitioner, thus reading or engaging with two hats on.  Complaining about having to do it, either inside or outside of the writing…. 54

 That the candidate takes it seriously and without complaining about having to do it.  That the connection of the exegesis and the creative work is clearly stated early on and often recalled throughout the text.  That it is never indulgent but always aims at “a substantial original contribution to knowledge” as part of the response of the overall thesis to the one research question.  That it exhibits the same care in its production as went into the creative work. 55

 Nigel Krauth, ‘Evolution of the Exegesis: The Radical Trajectory of the Creative Writing Doctorate in Australia’ TEXT 15:1, April  West, Patrick. ‘Is Near To... and is... Distant From: Exegetical Manoeuvres in Janet Frame’s The Carpathians.’ The And Is Papers: Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the AAWP. Eds. Jen Webb and Jordan Williams. Canberra: The Australian Association of Writing Programs, 2007, ISBN ,  The novel The Carpathians and the novella Towards Another Summer by Janet Frame. Both these texts play games with notions of the ‘creative’ or ‘interior exegesis’.  The short story ‘Becalmed in the Antilles’ by Italo Calvino in the short-story collection Numbers in the Dark. An odd little exegetical moment comes at the end of this story, buried in the middle of the collection. 56

 ‘A survey of distances to galaxies has revealed something that at first seemed  implausible: a galaxy that appears to be both relatively close and seven billion light  years away... the paradox is interpreted as being caused by the focusing of light from  a distant quasar (starlike object) by the gravity of an intervening galaxy’. (Janet Frame, The Carpathians 1989: 7) 57

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