Continental Drift, a novel set in an unnamed Latin American republic, centers around the relationship between a young American entrepreneur, Drew Junkins, and his fiancee, Xinia Pecado, a professor at the National University. Drew's plans to run a thriving macadamia farm are badly set back when he discovers that his partner, Joe Gallivan, is interested principally in high-stakes illegal activities. Xinia is trying to raise her two children while pursuing a fast-paced academic career. She is still traumatized by the disappointment of her marriage and by the circumstances of her husband's death eight years earlier, and her frustrations are compounded by the clash between her family values and Drew's lifestyle. For in immersing himself in the culture, he has adapted his North American outlook to the "machismo" of the country gentleman, and he has become obsessed with writing a recent national history. / This conflict intensifies while Drew is vacationing with Xinia's family in a remote area. Here he becomes acquainted with her brother-in-law, the new Attorney General, who is dedicated to eliminating just the sort of operation Joe is running. Shortly afterward, at a New Year's party, Drew, gnawed by guilt over his association with Joe and over his indifferent treatment of Xinia, succumbs to momentary sensual weakness. Xinia, confronted with the proof of what she always hoped was merely her own insecurities about Drew, breaks off the relationship. Drew realizes finally how much he has come to depend on her. His subsequent dive into self-abuse, coupled with a related tragedy in Xinia's family, provide him with stark self-knowledge. / The novel is in part about the threat to idealism on both sides of an inherently exploitative relationship. Though the literary style is essentially representational, there is the reflexive suggestion that the novel overlaps with the history Drew is writing. Thus the twin themes, the cultural and the personal, converge in an inevitable resolution. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-10, Section: A, page: 3596. / Major Professor: Janet Burroway. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76511 |
| Contributors | Miller, Michael John., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 290 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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