The thesis will be in two parts, research and creative. The first part will be a research-based paper exploring how the creation and content of memoir is influenced by authors with chronic illness, and the difficulties and unique perspective these authors bring to the craft of memoir will be investigated. The second part will be a short memoir that tells a personal story of living with an autoimmune disease, systemic lupus erythematosus. This first-person narrative will fluctuate between memories of personal experience, information on lupus, and self-reflection. Together, these parts will explore different aspects of chronic illness in memoir
