Into the water

Into the Water features eight stories. The stories are written in the mode of magical realism, which can be described in terms of the merger between the realistic and the fantastic. A main consideration addressed in specific definitions of the mode is how completely the reader believes in the magical elements of a story as they are juxtaposed with the realistic setting. Contemporary writers who influenced this collection include Rabih Alameddine, Neil Caiman, and Patrick Suskind. The stories in Into the Water loosely trace a timeline beginning during the early colonization of North America and ending in the modern day. They explore an intersection between European and Native American folklore, using animal totems as each main character has a literal animal that acts as a guide to bring that character to a resolution within the story. While the stories are designed to stand alone, there is also a framework where they can be read as stories within- a-story, framed by the first story, “There Was Once a Little Boy Who Walked Very, Very Far” and the last, “Needle and Thread.” They are the two most contemporary stories and both have the same main character. Throughout the collection, unifying symbolic motifs of water, traditionally associated with rebirth and change, and of birds, and especially birds of prey that are traditionally associated with sight, are featured.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Grantor dc:publisher

Colorado State University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Authors dc:creator

• Eickholt, Alexandra, author
• Morales, Juan, advisor
• Taylor, Ted, committee member
• Frank, Katherine, committee member

• Stories, plots, etc
• Magic realism (Literature)

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.

Language dc:language.iso

eng, English

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25675/3.018882

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:mountainscholar.org:10217/234655