Date of Award

2000

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

English Language, Literature, and Creative Writing

Keywords

Literature, Canadian (English).

Supervisor

Brandt, D.

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

The Schizophrenic Virgin is an experimental look at how stories interrelate and "congeal" to form one. Each chapter is in the semblance of a short story. The point of view changes, while characters reappear to continue their development and growth through the eyes of another. The intended effect is to show the realism of the present with an undercurrent of history, myth, hearsay, folklore and fiction. The story is set in Niagara Falls and revolves around an historical stone brick building at the cliff of the escarpment overlooking the great and infamous cataract. Niagara Falls is renowned for its beauty, majesty, commercialism, honeymooners, tourists, daredevils, death, and above all else---the extraordinary. The Falls itself is a natural phenomenon, which refuses to be capitalized upon, but it is nevertheless exploited. It is a place rich in history and abundant in character. The plot centers on a Michael Angeli, a young man coming of age who is imprisoned by familial duty, and Scorpio, a schizophrenic, who is in search of a daughter he believes to have fathered. Both characters meet each other by chance when Michael and his brother Gabriel postpone their lives to live their father's dream of opening a bar/restaurant. Ironically, the bar is a renovation to the old building atop the escarpment, and dramatically, it is the stage from which each story is performed. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 39-02, page: 0357. Adviser: Di Brandt. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2000.

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