Research background
'This work of semi-autobiographical Gothic fiction explores ideas about mourning espoused by Jacques Derrida (1996, 2001) who argued that mourning is an affective state that is non-responsive to rational or theoretical ideas. This reflects Michel Foucault’s approach to the state of repression, which he argued cannot be addressed by a theoretical discourse alone (1978: 5). Therefore this work takes a creative rather than theoretical approach. The work explores Derrida’s (2001) notion that mourning is triggered not only by the death of a loved one, but also by the death of that aspect of ourselves that existed only in relationship to the deceased.'