[Abstract Omitted] / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

This thesis/novel, The Marvelous Garden of Marcel Verdell, follows the fictional story of one local government bureaucrat, Jude Wintertour, into the irregular and viridescent town of Garden, wherein he encounters the titular gardener, Marcel Verdell, and, along with a host of other residents, confronts the oppressive, convoluted past, envisions a hopeful future, and lives with the consequences of the blindsight-choices of the present. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The Dreams of Gods is a surreal-realist novel that follows a grieving man in the wake of his wife’s death through a strange conspiracy that seems to bend reality around him, forcing him on a curious odyssey of self-discovery, eventually leading to understanding as he learns how to come to terms with himself and the world around him. It is an exploration of the many faces of god and the universe, as well as humanity's place within it all. Inventive and energetic, the hairbrained plot takes the reader deep into a world that becomes more bizarre with each page, while fantastical characters pop in and out of the story in shocking and comical ways and nothing is quite what it seems. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (MFA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

A master's thesis.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Department of African Languages in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2001. / Lolu cwarnngo lucubungula impicabadala ngempi yaseNtibane. Kunernibuzo enusa ikhanda mayelana nokwehlulwa kwempi kaZulu ngesikhathi uZulu ebhekene ngeziqu zamehlo namaBhunu ngonyaka ka-1838. Lolu cwaningo luzama ukuthola ukuthi yini ngempela eyenzeka ngalolu suku lena eyabangela ukunqotshwa kukaZulu empini yaseNtibane? Kungabe amasu okulwa ajwayelekile akawasebenzisanga uNdlela? Kungabe kuyiqiniso ukuthi uZulu owasala kule mpi ubalelwa ezinkulungwaneni ezintathu? Kungabe kuyiqiniso uJ...'Uthi umfula waze waphenduka igazi? Vma kuyiqiniso, kungabe elikaZulu kuphela igazi elaphalala? Lena ngeminye yemibuzo okudingeka iphenduleke. Lolu cwaningo luzama ukuthola izimpendulo zale mibuzo kanye neminye ezohambe ivela Kubhekisiswa izindlela ezazisetshenziswa uZulu uma ebutha amabutho, ukwethiwa igama kwebutho, ukwabiwa kwezihlangu ngokwemibala enhlobonhlobo, imvunulo yamabutho, ukuma kwempi kaZulu jikelele, izindlela zokuhlasela kanye nempicabadala ngempi yaseNtibane. Kuyobhekisiswa imihlobiso eyiiigqizo zokunonophala kolimi kulo msebenzi. Lokhu Imyaphuthuma ukuba kwenziwe ngoba kosiza kakhulu isizwe kakhulukazi oSomlando, oSomafa kaZulu, izizukulwane ngezizulmlwane, izivakashi kanye nalabo abasekhaleni lokweluleka abavakashi ikakhulu kwelakwaMthaniya. Lolu cwaningo lunezahluko eziyisihlanu. Isahluko sokugala "isingeniso socwaningo". Amagama asetshenzisiwe kulo rnqulu azohlaziywa kahle ukuze ingqikithi yalokho akushoyo icace. Sibuka izinhloso nentshisekelo yomsebenzi jikelele. Kukhonjwa indlela yokuqhuba ucwaningo kanye nemidiyo yalo. Isahluko sesibili siqondene "nokurna kwempi kaZulu", ukubutha, izihlangu, imvunulo kanye namanoni olirni avela kulokhu.

In this collection, the typical and the peculiar collide with the necessary and familiar. Where life, love, and loss, are random quantum elements that may or may not hold the universe together. Some of these stories explore characters that are a bit off, a tad quirky, underdogs trying to find something to hold on to. From musing about the atomic bomb and Hubba Bubba gum, to jogging at the speed of a particle in the Hadron accelerator, or ruminating on the awesome power of the sit-com, to taking a selfie with co-workers in the dark, to what bored kids do to preserve memories, this collection connects the absurd and the mundane, the universal and particular. These stories deal with choices and events that have the potential to change lives and shape character. And whether it's breaking the record for highest jump in a mattress outfit, longing for meatballs, what the downtown bus hub can teach, secret tattoos, cutting off your pinkie to save a relationship, or whales on the high sea, this collection oscillates between the random and the significant in order to enlighten or at least to entertain.

This collection of short stories takes its name from various islands historically believed to exist and at one time or other located on maps, sometimes remaining on them for centuries, but later removed after they were proved to be illusory. Reports of these islands usually came from sailors as they explored new realms, mistaking actual islands for imaginary ones or by geographical error. Illusions can persist unchallenged for ages. A similar yet modern illusion is the persistence of vision, a phenomenon by which an afterimage, say, on a screen, is thought to persist on the retina for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second. The characters in these stories live their isolated lives as after-image phantoms on islands that either never existed or no longer exist.

After turning forty and the unexpected death of her father, the narrator seeks to make sense of the story of her father's life and her own. Reflections on Buddhism, death, family history and community flow through the narrator's journey from the backcountry of the Colorado Rocky Mountains to the rolling farmland of the Midwest, from a retreat center in Oregon to the ancient geography of Wisconsin's Driftless Area. With clues gathered from her family home in Waterloo, Iowa, the narrator returns to her current home in Portland, where she comes to understand for herself the significance of the phrase "the let going."

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