This collection consists of a critical preface and five short stories. The preface analyzes what it terms 'fringe fiction,' or stories dealing with elements that are improbable or unusual, though not impossible, as it distinguishes this category from magical realism and offers guidelines for writing this kind of fiction. The short stories explore themes of attachment, loss, guilt, and hope. Collection includes the stories "Portrait," "Dress Up," "Change," "Drawn Onward, We Few, Drawn Onward," and "Broker."

by Christina Lee Ka-pik. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1990. / Bibliography: leaves 163-168. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowedgments --- p.ii / Chapter Chapter1 --- Introducion --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter2 --- Orthodoxy vs Anti-orthodoxy --- p.12 / Chapter Chapter3 --- Historicity vs Fictionalization --- p.52 / Chapter Chapter4 --- Ordinary vs Unexpectedness --- p.97 / Chapter Chapter5 --- Conclusion --- p.151 / Notes to Chapter 1 --- p.156 / Notes to Chapter 2 --- p.157 / Notes to Chapter 3 --- p.160 / Notes to Chapter 4 --- p.161 / Notes to Chapter 5 --- p.162 / Works Cited --- p.163

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-168). CD-ROMs comprise: Appendix A. Family values: fictocritical sentences -- appendix C. Reforming the boy: fictocritical sentences Primarily enacts a fictocritical mapping of local cultural events essentially concerned with crime and trauma in Adelaide. The fictocritical treatment of these events simulates their unresolved or traumatised condition. A secondary concern is the relationship between electronic writing (hypertext) and fictocriticism.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-168). / 168 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. + 2 sound discs (CD) / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Primarily enacts a fictocritical mapping of local cultural events essentially concerned with crime and trauma in Adelaide. The fictocritical treatment of these events simulates their unresolved or traumatised condition. A secondary concern is the relationship between electronic writing (hypertext) and fictocriticism. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of English, 2001

The dissertation "And the Sea looked : a novel in the making" is an exploration of the creative process of a prose fiction novel called „And the Sea Looked‟. Following the lives of three women, the novel reflects on the idea that universal Peace (the end of all wars) will only be possible if individuals, through the power of their choices in the way they live their ordinary lives, strive to transcend the separations and imperfections of the Material World, ultimately finding a universal unity ("oneness") in the ideal love existing in Plato‟s superior, Divine World. The psychological creative process behind the making of the novel is investigated in-depth and a short critical interpretation of the novel is included. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

Fictive kinship is a relationship characterized by use of kin terms in addressing persons who are not genealogical relatives. The objective of this study was to clarify the discrepancy between a theoretical perspective of fictive kinship as a form of substitutive kinship in a complex, urban society, and research which indicated that fictive kinship may be characteristic of a more stable society. The sample selected for research consisted of 115 wives randomly selected from a population comprising the faculty employed at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. When generalized to an upper-middle-class, white, Protestant population, then was no substantiation for either the theoretical perspective of substitutive kinship in a complex, urban milieu, or the previous findings which suggested that fictive kin relationships were characteristic of a more stable environment. However, respondents from small families of orientation used fictive kin terms significantly more than other respondents. Intergenerational patterns of usage were also apparent. Descriptive data indicated the terms were most often used during childhood and were generally initiated by parents for their personal friends. The relationship involved appears to be one between two non-users, while a third party is encouraged to use the fictive terminology as validation of that relationship. Interpretation of the data gives rise to the suggestion that fictive kinship may be a misnomer, because the terms seem indicative of primary group associations rather than kin ties. / M.S.

While existing criticism of Emma Tennant's work emphasizes its feminist agenda, less attention has been paid to her rewriting of different narratives and discourses. Tennant's career has centered on challenging literary values as well as generic categories, realist conventions, and gender stereotypes. Contrary to implications that rewriting is "re-vision," an "act of survival" that corrects or subverts earlier texts, this thesis argues that Tennant's characteristic resistance to categories also extends to the work of rewriting and revision. Her texts suggest that the act of "writing back" is not as straightforward as it may seem, but deeply ambiguous and ambivalent. Developing theories of the "signature" that return the writer-as-agent to the otherwise anonymous field of intertextuality, this thesis traces Tennant's figurations of writing, metafictional devices, and intertextual allusions to show how these relate to themes in the fiction. Examining groupings of the texts from different critical perspectives, each chapter shows how Tennant's rewritings destabilize notions of originality, identity, and agency, and represent political discourses and social progress in an ambivalent way. While this thesis offers very specific insights into Tennant's work, the close readings also encompass broader themes, such as feminism and postmodernism, the gothic, myths of home and exile, and the ventriloquistic techniques of pastiche and biofiction. The arguments centered on her work contribute to the larger discourse on rewriting in two ways. First, in problematizing assumptions that rewriting inherently strives toward progress or correction, this thesis argues that rewriting can dramatize the ambiguity and ambivalence that haunt acts of resistance. Second, in advancing challenges to the idea that intertextuality functions anonymously, it argues that rewriting can return agency to the text by offering representations of authorship that engage with literary and cultural history.

published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Philosophy

Out of the Ever After and Other Stories is a collection of language-driven stories set in different parts of the world and thematically linked, comprising realist narratives and magical realism. The trope that unifies this collection is that of the journey. The characters go on journeys, whether real or metaphorical. Many are lost at the beginning, but they find themselves in the end; others remain lost, but have a better understanding of their condition in the world. Although diverse in nationality, cultural background and gender, the characters in the eight stories share the need to find a lasting identity and a home-place to return to, whether physically or psychologically. The collection alternates magical and realist plots, male and female narrators, points of view, and diverse settings to create variety and a multicultural, hybrid and hyphenated experience. Some stories experiment with language; others have a more traditional mood, akin to fairytales. / by Claudia Amadori-Segree. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, FL : 2008 Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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