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ETD Abstract Container

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Let’s Do

Meacham, Rebecca Anne
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1038336719

Abstract Details

2002, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences : English and Comparative Literature.
This dissertation consists of two parts: Let’s Do, a collection of original short stories, and a scholarly article entitled “The ‘Larger, Unfinished Story’ of Contemporary African American Short Fiction.” The story collection, Let’s Do, offers an evocative study in grief. A range of characters – including a teenage anorexic, a failed lawyer, a pregnant art teacher, and a retiree in the wilderness – fumble through and triumph over losses arising from divorce, encroachment, and abandonment.Through first, second, and third person narration, the author explores a number of responses to personal anguish: some characters recover through humor and irreverence, others hold fast to their siblings and children, and a few wound themselves or their loved ones with violence. Pushing the boundaries – sometimes tragically – of caretaking, discipline, legacy, and duty, the characters of Let’s Do are poised to take steps into uncertain terrain. The article, “The ‘Larger, Unfinished Story’ of Contemporary African American Short Fiction,” investigates the publication of short fiction by black writers at the end of the twentieth century. After identifying Prevailing “pathological” literary images of black life and the stylistic commonalities of anthologized stories, the author presents the work of several writers outside of the mainstream as a means of questioning their omission.The author concludes that myriad elements – including college curriculum, lack of family support, and low numbers of African American editors and agents – contribute to the dearth of published short stories by black American writers.
Brock Clarke (Advisor)
262 p.
Literature, American

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Meacham, R. A. (2002). Let’s Do [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1038336719

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Meacham, Rebecca. Let’s Do. 2002. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1038336719.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Meacham, Rebecca. "Let’s Do." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2002. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1038336719

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1038336719
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© 2002, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.