Abstract
dc:description.abstractThe Things of Now uses a blend of creative non-fiction and poetry to explore what it means to live in this contemporary moment. The work can be considered a memoir, one which is guided by Patricia’s Hampl’s insight that the self can be transformed into an instrument of observation. Covering aspects of my formative years living in post-apartheid South Africa, my time spent as a member of the professional managerial class in Cape Town as an adult, and my shift into economic precarity as a graduate student in Canada, the thesis touches upon my gradual awakening to the forces, both macro and micro, shaping my lived experience at this moment in time. To reflect the complex nature of contemporaneity, The Things of Now is multi-generic in structure, placing it within the realm of autotheory. By utilizing an autotheoretical approach, the manuscript, in the words of Lauren Fournier, can be seen to “exceed existing genre categories.” This allows me not only to examine how large-scale phenomena such as capitalism, colonialism, and global warming influence our present moment, but also how my own lived experience is intertwined and shaped by these forces. The work does not seek to provide any final conclusions regarding the questions it raises. Rather, it is meant to create a sense of disorientation in the reader, with a plethora of different perspectives converging to form an abstract whole that is nonetheless cogent in its inquest into the nature of the present.
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- Master of Arts (MA)
- Level thesis:degree_level
- Master's
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- Creative Writing and English
- Grantor dc:publisher
- Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2023
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Kemp, Daniël Johannes
- Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
-
- Trussler, Michael
- Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
-
- Riegel, Christian
- Schnell, Melanie
Rights
- Language dc:language.iso
- en
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:uregina.scholaris.ca:10294/16448