Date of Award
5-2005
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.F.A.
Degree Program
Drama and Communications
Department
Drama and Communications
Major Professor
Lavender, William
Second Advisor
Moore, Dinty
Third Advisor
Paola, Suzanne
Abstract
Auto Biography is a creative nonfiction memoir: A daughter, forced to move her unlovable, ever-combustible, wheelchairbound mother cross-country in an RV, attempts to come to terms with her via the automobiles of their lives. The story explores: 1) the universal dilemma of caring for aged parents––its stress, its pain, its sacrifice, and its dark humor; 2) memory––the "peeling back" narrative style working in the same layer upon layer way of memory, its non-linearity creating not so much a one-piece narrative but essay snapshots forming a family photo album view of this thing we call memory and this thing we call meaning; and, of course, 3) cars––their subtle yet surprisingly essential role in all our modern and post-modern lives.
Recommended Citation
Stephenson, Lynda Routledge, "Auto Biography: A Daughter's Story Told in Cars" (2005). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 231.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/231
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.