Date of Award
8-2014
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Literary Arts
First Advisor
Selah Saterstrom
Keywords
Creative writing, Fiction, Poetry
Abstract
SCRIMSHAW is a work of fiction composed of prose vignettes and prose poems, ‘translations’ of photographs and films, and assimilated/appropriated texts—all of which trace one troubled family’s century-spanning story as it attempts to inhabit the unstable space of memory. The fragmentary quality of the work’s construction speaks to the way in which the family memory is lashed together from stories, snippets of overheard conversation, photographs, letters, documents, shifting allegiances and alliances, and informational gaps and overlap, all of which cohere around a narrative framework in order to tell the story of a private history. Each page of the text becomes an installation space curated by the family’s remaining member, and each element of story is presented as an exhibit—a word intended to invoke both the art gallery and the courtroom.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. This work may only be accessed by members of the University of Denver community. The work is provided by permission of the author for individual research purposes only and may not be further copied or distributed. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Meghan L. Dowling
Provenance
Received from author
File Format
application/pdf
Language
en
File Size
237 pgs
Recommended Citation
Dowling, Meghan L., "Scrimshaw" (2014). Restricted Access ETDs. 35.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/restrictedetd/35
Copyright date
2014
Discipline
Creative writing