Date of Award

6-2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

English

First Advisor

Selah Saterstrom

Keywords

Creative writing, Fiction

Abstract

In BURN FORTUNE, protagonist June is a flag-twirling, corn-detasseling sixteen-year-old who lives in a conservative small town in the early 90s Midwest. Her family is dysfunctional but her boyfriend—known only as “My Boyfriend”—has a family who is emotionally and physically abusive. Looking for alternatives to the lives of the women who surround her, June becomes obsessed with the actress Jean Seberg (best known for her starring role in Godard’s Breathless) as well as Joan of Arc. After being raped by an acquaintance, June withdraws and begins to live mostly through Seberg’s films, re-evaluating her life’s path while building an altar to Jean and Joan in an underground storm drain. Offered their lives as alternatives to her own, June is left to wonder: Can anyone truly transcend their circumstances, or does having a dream mean death?

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.

Provenance

Received from author

Rights holder

Brandi Homan

File size

210 pgs

File format

application/pdf

Language

en

Discipline

Creative writing

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