Date of Award
6-2023
Document Type
Masters Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Literary Arts
First Advisor
R. D. Perry
Second Advisor
Joanna Howard
Third Advisor
Tayana Hardin
Fourth Advisor
Frederique Chevillot
Keywords
Epistolary, Form, Identity construction, Life writing, Memoir
Abstract
This thesis examines Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and Kiese Laymon’s Heavy as works of life writing that leverage the epistolary form to engage their direct maternal addressees and audiences beyond them in revision and reconstruction of identity. Secondary audiences are considered in light of Michael Warner’s “Publics and Counterpublics,” and the social affordances of the epistolary form and self-constructive affordances of life writing are analyzed in tandem as a hybrid epistolary memoir form. Specifically, this project explores how the epistolary memoir form affords Vuong and Laymon opportunities for the process of personal, relational, and communal identity construction, particularly around ideas of “American” identity.
Copyright Date
6-2023
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Sarah M. Davis
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
71 pgs
File Size
502 KB
Recommended Citation
Davis, Sarah M., "The Politics & Poetics of Audience Creation in Contemporary Epistolary Memoir" (2023). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2276.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2276
Discipline
Literature
Included in
Literature in English, North America Commons, Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons