Higher than God is a collection of twelve pieces of fiction in a variety of formats such as modern short story prose, the memoir, the epistolary, poetry, and more experimental forms such as the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story and stream-of-consciousness writings. The works were written with the format of a concept album in mind where each individual piece of fiction is like a song which can be enjoyed on its own, but when read in order, reveals motifs, thematic echoes, and greater emotional resonance for the reader, similar to the effect a well-sequenced album would have on a musical aficionado. The protagonist of the “novel” is a young, white, male named Travis Steve. All the pieces attempt to reveal different aspects of his emotional/spiritual development or lack thereof through focusing on his turbulent emotional life which results from his various relationships and his experimentation with sex and substances. The work also relies heavily upon a myriad range of pop-cultural references, primarily rock n’ roll music, video game culture, and Hollywood movies. The end result is a totality of intra-textual meaning, as well as a bittersweet portrait and psychological examination of the protagonist.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations