AbstractsHistory

This dissertation is comprised of two sections: a critical essay entitled "Postmodern Persona Creative Nonfiction" and an essay collection, "What Are You Going to Do With the Rest of Your Life?""Postmodern Persona in Creative Nonfiction" examines the use of multiple personas within nonfiction. For writers working within the era of Postmodernism, the self-identified fractured self often requires a multi-voiced persona to best explore complicated issues. The critical essay then examines these personas as they manifest in Truman Capote, Alison Bechdel, Janet Malcolm, and D.J. Waldie, as well as in the author's own work."What Are You Going to Do With the Rest of Your Life?" contains essays that examine notions of identity and self as affected by sense of place, race, education, job status, and external appearances. The essays juxtapose personal experiences and external events in the goal of creating narrative.