Fragments of Joshua is a novel which explores the emotions of disillusionment and displacement (\"fragmentation\") within the general \"nomadic\" quality of modern life. The story of the protagonist, Joshua Celeste - loner, artist, traveler - is told by way of snippets from emails, letters, recordings, poems and reminiscences. In the end, Joshua becomes a sort of \"exact\" metaphor, in the way that the World Trade Center's literal fall was interpreted by some as the metaphoric \"fall\" of the American empire, when he becomes a \"fragment\" himself. Narrator Krip Kovacs tells the story by way of Josh's notebooks, letters to and from friends and family, and his own reflections. Krip also includes into the story the uncompleted autobiography of Josh's brother, Alfred \" Doc\" Celeste, which constitutes yet another \"fragment\" of his friend's life. Krip realizes that he alone is most capable of piecing together a \"portrait\" so to speak of Josh's life. He is motivated to do so by love for his friend, but also by a sense guilt: Krip believes that certain events point to his negligence in regard to their friendship. He decides to gather together all the \"fragments\"( letters, poems, emails, diary entries, funny stories, etc.) of this man's life that he can so that he can try to understand its \"meaning\". Along the way he explores the lives of those closest to Josh-- and his own.
","abstract_html":"<p><i>Fragments of Joshua</i> is a novel which explores the emotions of disillusionment and displacement ("fragmentation") within the general "nomadic" quality of modern life. The story of the protagonist, Joshua Celeste - loner, artist, traveler - is told by way of snippets from emails, letters, recordings, poems and reminiscences. In the end, Joshua becomes a sort of "exact" metaphor, in the way that the World Trade Center's literal fall was interpreted by some as the metaphoric "fall" of the American empire, when he becomes a "fragment" himself. Narrator Krip Kovacs tells the story by way of Josh's notebooks, letters to and from friends and family, and his own reflections. Krip also includes into the story the uncompleted autobiography of Josh's brother, Alfred " Doc" Celeste, which constitutes yet another "fragment" of his friend's life. Krip realizes that he alone is most capable of piecing together a "portrait" so to speak of Josh's life. He is motivated to do so by love for his friend, but also by a sense guilt: Krip believes that certain events point to his negligence in regard to their friendship. He decides to gather together all the "fragments"( letters, poems, emails, diary entries, funny stories, etc.) of this man's life that he can so that he can try to understand its "meaning". Along the way he explores the lives of those closest to Josh-- and his own. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lewis, Bruce Chandler"],"institution":"Eastern Kentucky University","degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts (MFA)","degree_level":"Master's","degree_discipline":"English and Theatre","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:25Z","subjects":["Fiction"],"languages":[],"rights":["Copyright 2014 Bruce Chandler Lewis"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/287","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Lewis, Bruce Chandler"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English and Theatre"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts (MFA)"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Eastern Kentucky University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Fiction"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2014 Bruce Chandler Lewis"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/287"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Fragments of Joshua is a novel which explores the emotions of disillusionment and displacement (\"fragmentation\") within the general \"nomadic\" quality of modern life. The story of the protagonist, Joshua Celeste - loner, artist, traveler - is told by way of snippets from emails, letters, recordings, poems and reminiscences. In the end, Joshua becomes a sort of \"exact\" metaphor, in the way that the World Trade Center's literal fall was interpreted by some as the metaphoric \"fall\" of the American empire, when he becomes a \"fragment\" himself. Narrator Krip Kovacs tells the story by way of Josh's notebooks, letters to and from friends and family, and his own reflections. Krip also includes into the story the uncompleted autobiography of Josh's brother, Alfred \" Doc\" Celeste, which constitutes yet another \"fragment\" of his friend's life. Krip realizes that he alone is most capable of piecing together a \"portrait\" so to speak of Josh's life. He is motivated to do so by love for his friend, but also by a sense guilt: Krip believes that certain events point to his negligence in regard to their friendship. He decides to gather together all the \"fragments\"( letters, poems, emails, diary entries, funny stories, etc.) of this man's life that he can so that he can try to understand its \"meaning\". Along the way he explores the lives of those closest to Josh-- and his own.
"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Fragments of Joshua"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Lewis, Bruce Chandler"],"dc:description.abstract":["Fragments of Joshua is a novel which explores the emotions of disillusionment and displacement (\"fragmentation\") within the general \"nomadic\" quality of modern life. The story of the protagonist, Joshua Celeste - loner, artist, traveler - is told by way of snippets from emails, letters, recordings, poems and reminiscences. In the end, Joshua becomes a sort of \"exact\" metaphor, in the way that the World Trade Center's literal fall was interpreted by some as the metaphoric \"fall\" of the American empire, when he becomes a \"fragment\" himself. Narrator Krip Kovacs tells the story by way of Josh's notebooks, letters to and from friends and family, and his own reflections. Krip also includes into the story the uncompleted autobiography of Josh's brother, Alfred \" Doc\" Celeste, which constitutes yet another \"fragment\" of his friend's life. Krip realizes that he alone is most capable of piecing together a \"portrait\" so to speak of Josh's life. He is motivated to do so by love for his friend, but also by a sense guilt: Krip believes that certain events point to his negligence in regard to their friendship. He decides to gather together all the \"fragments\"( letters, poems, emails, diary entries, funny stories, etc.) of this man's life that he can so that he can try to understand its \"meaning\". Along the way he explores the lives of those closest to Josh-- and his own.
"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/287"],"dc:publisher":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2014 Bruce Chandler Lewis"],"dc:source":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"],"dc:subject":["Fiction"],"dc:title":["Fragments of Joshua"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English and Theatre"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts (MFA)"],"thesis:institution_name":["Eastern Kentucky University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:25Z"}