Constructing Personal Identities in Holiday Letters

Bibliographic Data

ID2932927
AuthorsStephen P Bank, Stephen P Banks (University of Idaho), Esther Louie (0009-0008-2742-4766, Washington State University), Martha Einerson (University of Idaho), Martha J Einerson (University of Idaho)
Year2000
Volume17
Issue3
Pages299-327
Publication date2000-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social and Personal Relationships (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0265-4075 • E-ISSN: 1460-3608
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0265407500173001
OpenAlexW2139706163
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited34

A collection of holiday letters is analyzed using the grounded theory method to generate a matrix of relationships among descriptive categories and conceptual dimensions of this epistolary genre. The final step of the grounded theory protocol analyzes holiday letters as a genre of writing that conveys personal stories set within a bracketed period to achieve ongoing autobiographies. The narratives create positive identities for the writer and his or her intimates, and depict those autobiographies as progressing toward the good and the preferred in the dominant culture. Discussion focuses on the ways in which holiday letters manage the dialectics of contradictions between modernist sensibilities, desires, and selfhood, and the postmodern social conditions in which they are written

Aesthetics · Art · Dialectic · Epistemology · Grounded theory · Literature · Matrix (chemical analysis · Narrative · Period (music · Postmodernism · Qualitative research · Set (abstract data type · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Cultural Identity and Representation · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · Social Psychology

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