MY MID-LIFE CRISIS AND AFTERWARD: VARIOUS HERMENEUTICAL ANALYSES OF LIVED EXPERIENCES: PART 3 - MEN'S WORK AND SOME THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

EDWARD READ BARTON


DOI: 10.2190/5UK2-0M3Q-C3AN-0CUJ

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the interpretations of men at midlife from various hermeneutical perspectives. The first interpretation was what might be called "typical U.S. professionalism," which is mostly concerned with "written in stone" laws, rules, and procedures that are overly deterministic, constrictive, cultural deployments. The second was a mythopoetic interpretation of mythopoetic men's work, which is more fluid, imaginative, creative, interpretative, and has been and continues to be emotionally healing for me. This article, Part 3, is perhaps less poignant and drier. Its theoretical frameworks include autoethnography, personal narrative, and imagoes. Finally, the summary calls for more research and an enlivened hermeneutics for men--interpretations that include feelings, connectedness, lived experiences . . . moistened by the power of the heart.

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