The Sacred and the Surreal

The Sacred and the Surreal is a collection of twelve original short stories that are dark in content and high-concept in their storytelling approach. The tales concern protagonists on the outskirts of society who have an intimate relationship with violence and victimization, having found themselves on either the giving or receiving end of man's brutality. The stories move at a fast pace and often have twists or reversals that defy audience expectations. They are experimental in form, embracing a number of narrative devices, frames, and techniques. Character voices range from "low" ("street" characters who speak in slang) to "high" (characters with a more "refined" diction). Common themes include fallibility, salvation, revenge, and unorthodox love. A loose religiosity visits itself upon the proceedings ("the sacred"), as does the possibility of extraordinary occurrences ("the surreal"). The atmosphere is one of a divine madness of shadows, wherein any miracle or atrocity can occur.Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-05, page: 2421.Adviser: Richard McCann.Thesis (M.F.A.)--American University, 2007