Avatars, egregores and the writing of the self1
Journal of Writing in Creative Practice October 1, 2023 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1386/jwcp_00055_1 via OpenAlex
Summary
Fictions can become real when enough people invest in them, producing a collective entity—an egregore—that speaks back to its creators as if it had an independent voice. This phenomenon reveals other forms of agency operating beneath the fiction of the self. Writing or rewriting the self is a creative and pragmatic task for which resources can be drawn from magickal practice, literary experimentation, neuroscience, psychoanalysis, and schizoanalysis.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Collective investment in fictions can produce entities that speak back to their authors, and this process illuminates other agencies at work behind the self, offering resources for rewriting the self. |
Abstract
My article is concerned with the investment in – and reality of – fictions. It looks at the magical idea of the egregore or of an entity, broadly understood, that is produced through collective investment and then speaks back to its authors as if it came from someplace else. At stake here is also an investigation into other kinds of agency – other ‘deep assignments’ – that are always already at work behind the fiction of the self. Important in this enquiry is an idea of writing – or re-writing – the self. Indeed, my claim is that various fields – from magickal practice to literary experimentation and from neuroscience to psychoanalysis and schizoanalysis – offer up important resources for this creative and pragmatic task.