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Writing Lives
Abstract
This dissertation is a collection of creative prose. It contains five short stories and two creative non-fiction pieces. The stories: “Accommodations” deals with Jim, a young man whose wife has left him, who is now trying to sort out why she left and what this means for his life; “Soldiers” explores the possibility of meeting violence with non-violence—both its efficacy and its limitations; Will, the protagonist and point-of-view character in “A Quiet Place, A Simple Melody,” is currently on the downbound side of a relationship with a woman, though his inability to make things work with his former lover seems a symptom of some larger failing—one that is possibly intrinsic to the writing life; a failing relationship is also at the heart of “The Opposite of Nostalgia,” though in this case the problem lies not in the relationship itself, but in Todd's, the point-of-view character's, lack of self-understanding; in “The Ghost Daughter,” a father deals with the overwhelming sense of loss he experiences after his infant daughter's death. The creative non-fiction pieces, “The Local Scene” and “The Art of Regret,” are autobiographical essays dealing with rite-of-passage experiences in young adulthood.
Subject Area
American literature|Creative writing
Recommended Citation
Ritz, Jonathan Pierce, "Writing Lives" (2002). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI3045532.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI3045532