In this collection of connected stories, the inhabitants of the imaginary Mediterranean village of Marcenac struggle with daily situations that often take allures of a farce, simply because they occur in Marcenac. The stories explore the influence southern France's Roussillon region has on people, the way the proximity of the Spanish border and the Mediterranean shapes the inhabitants of Marcenac's daily lives, and the influence of the climate. Often, the Tramontane, the region's predominant wind, becomes a character. While some of the stories are told from a collective point of view, others reveal the inner thoughts of children and adults, male and female. Because the stories are connected, characters visit different stories and help tell the collective tale of Marcenac. Even though the stories stand on their own, they form cohesion, united by the progression of the seasons and the underlying theme of death. Each story reveals a particularity of the region's weather and culture. Some stories are entertaining and lighthearted. Others are serious. Each invites the reader to share the most intimate thoughts of the characters as they seek solace from various degrees of grief and frustration. Some characters are gauche, naive, some tender, others bitter, but all are resilient and amicable. The characters' speech and the narrative are often peppered with French, which makes for humorous situations and takes the reader deep within a foreign culture without giving the feeling of an anthropology lesson. As a result, the characters become cultural guides as they ruminate over the past or go about their daily lives. They give the reader a unique insight into the habits and values of the region.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-5079 |
| Date | 01 January 2009 |
| Creators | Sanchez, Lydia |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
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