The life of Olive Schreiner: a psychobiography

[摘要] English: Olive Schreiner (1855-1920) was a famous South African novelist andhumanitarian. A remarkable and enigmatic woman, her life and work have inspired asubstantial amount of research by Schreiner scholars representing a diversity of academicdisciplines. They continue to speculate about the extent of her contribution to society, thedegree to which she realised her potential as a writer and the nature of her psychologicaldisturbance.Olive was chosen as the subject of this research because she was so interesting,complex and controversial. She has been the subject of numerous biographies. All haveoffered interpretations of her life and some have employed formal theories of psychologyto do so. None has utilised explicit or established psychological research designs andmethodologies.The aim of this study was to conceptualise Olive's life in terms of the principlesof Individual Psychology, thereby providing an illuminating account of her life andoffering explanations of her creativity, altruism, psychological difficulties and generalpersonality development. Individual Psychology is the theory developed by Alfred Adler(1870-1937). It is a holistic theory, emphasising subjectivism and the creative roles ofindividuals in developing their lifestyles. Adler's work has had a significant influence onpsychotherapeutic practice although he has received comparatively little recognition forhis contributions to contemporary psychology. The autobiographical nature of theAdlerian concept of lifestyle and the theory's focus on the uniqueness of human beingsmeans that it is well suited to the study of individual lives.The study can be described as life history research. It employed a single case,holistic design and entailed a psychobiographical study of a single subject over an entirelifespan. The research was explanatory and the method was qualitative. Two strategiesfor data extraction and analysis were employed. One entailed the use of theoreticalpropositions to identify relevant data, and the other involved the development of a descriptive framework for organising the case material. The combination of thesestrategies enabled the researcher to obtain evidence for key theoretical constructsthroughout Olive's life. This type of psychobiographical research is useful inunderstanding rare or unique phenomena and its application to the lives of enigmaticindividuals facilitates theory development and testing.The researcher concluded that Individual Psychology was well suited toconceptualising Olive's life, and that it offered a plausible and coherent explanation ofher moral development, creativity and her psychological distress. Olive's lifestyle, inaccordance with the tenets of Individual Psychology, was understood to be motivated bya deep sense of inferiority which she spent her life striving to overcome. To this end, andin an attempt to protect her fragile sense of self-worth, she employed particularsymptoms. Most obvious were her attempts at safeguarding her self-esteem by distancingherself from life's challenges. In many respects she displayed evidence of the Adlerianconcept social interest, or a commitment to the welfare of others.The study of Olive's personality provided a positive demonstration of the value ofAdler's theory. The validity of the construct social interest as the primary indicator ofmental health was questioned. Suggestions for further research were made.

[发布机构] University of the Free State