Using H?l?ne Cixous' notion of 'l'?criture f?minine' as an analogy for transformational learning and?an investigative tool, Hoult explores why some adult learners are able to survive and thrive in the education system, despite facing significantly more challenges than the average student.PART I: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND INTRODUCTION Introduction PART II: ANALYSIS OF LITERARY TEXTS Pygmalion as allegory for transformational adult learning: Ovid, Shaw and Hughes Educating Rita and Oleanna The Winter's Tale PART III: BIOGRAPHICAL DATA Interview with Joe Interview with Jane Interview?with Sarah PART?IV: AUTO/BIOGRAPHICAL DATA Interview with Lilian Autobiographical?Writing Final thoughts
This is one of the most original and entertaining books I have ever read . . . It will make you think and it will make you humble. It might even make you grateful . . . I submit that it would be difficult not to think about your own learning and your learners as you read Elizabeth Chapman Hoult's words. Adult Learning and la Recherche F?minine is a rare discovery. It isn't often that a book impresses me as much as this one did, and I hereby salute the author's acuity and skill. - Journal of Pedagogic Development
Every so often a book appears that deeply challenges the reductionism of narrowly scientific, overly rationalistic, writing on education. Elizabeth Chapman Hoult's text sensitively transcends poetic and scientific ways of knowing, the philosophical and personal, the material and spiritual, self and other, in chronicling and celebrating the vulnerability, resilience and mystery that is transformative learning. - Linden West, Professor of Education, Canterbury Christ Church University
Hoult's book provides a striking account of what it means to survive and flourish as a learner. Giving interdisciplinary attention both to literary texts and to student interviews, Hoult affirms the value of working with and through creative experienceló@