Abstracts Language, Literature, and Linguistic

Add abstract

Want to add your dissertation abstract to this database? It only takes a minute!

Search abstract

Search for abstracts by subject, author or institution

Share this abstract

dissertation.com
on Facebook

When the People Go Away

by Julie E Dickson

Institution:	George Mason University
Year:	2015
Keywords:	personal essay; short story; writing life; relationships; emotional distance; homelessness
Posted:	02/05/2017
Record ID:	2129085
Full text PDF:	http://hdl.handle.net/1920/9794

Abstract

When the People Go Away is a collection of thematically linked short stories and personal essays. In the stories, we follow characters through their various struggles with separation and self-actualization in worlds marked by homelessness, addiction, isolation, environmental destruction, and loss. In the personal essays, the author explores the distances in her own relationships, and how her need for understanding and connection reveals itself as both an obstacle to writing and its deepest motivating force. Advisors/Committee Members: Goodwin, Stephen (advisor).