Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
8-2010
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
English
Major Professor
Allen Wier
Committee Members
Michael Knight, Arthur Smith, Cary Staples
Abstract
Abe Gaustad's first collection of stories, Welcome to Boomland, explores the lives of disparate characters longing for some escape. Whether a paraplegic blues aficionado or a boy who finds a strange object in the woods, they are each searching for a way out of their stagnation. Yet each character is trapped by their own unique circumstance: some of them by their mistakes, some by ruthless dictators, some by the very notion of death. As they search for their freedom, they find out new things about themselves and manage to wage quiet rebellions against those that would control them. In the end, they earn small victories, but noble ones.
Recommended Citation
Gaustad, Cebrun Abe, "Welcome to Boomland. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2010.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/799
Included in
Literature in English, North America Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons