Date of Award

Fall 2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

English

Program/Concentration

Creative Writing

Committee Director

Janet Peery

Committee Member

Joseph Cosco

Committee Member

Timothy Seibles

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E64 H55 2007

Abstract

No One's Devil Dog is a collection of stories which celebrate the muddling journeys of five lonely souls. In "Karaoke Night," Stanley means to confess his love to Sarah, "blond and lovely, perfect vision of a barmaid angel," but before he can, he must sing a Johnny Cash duet with a massive blind shot-putter and negotiate the hazy interior of a crowded Nova Scotia pub. In "Lo Siento," Evan, a graduate student, surly radical, and veteran of the WTO riots in Seattle, sees a simple errand become a bibulous descent into the excess and carnival night life of a Midwestern college town. "Doomsday on Mars" finds Hank, an unprepossessing newspaper press manager, dreaming science fiction stories and plays after having Viagra-enhanced sex with his unhappy wife. In "No One's Devil Dog," a marine warrant officer resolves to commit suicide by cop in front of the national media as a final gesture in his struggle against the faceless powers that shape his life. Lastly there is "Coupe de Ville" where in Jacob convinces Norman to slip away from the other old folks and take one last drive across town in Jacob's vintage Cadillac convertible. The stories in No One's Devil Dog aspire to discover a humor and irony born of compassion and marked by a reverence for the human condition. The collection as a whole explores the possibility of human desire and disappointment in the careful expansion and scrutiny of critical moments in the humble exploits of unlikely heroes.

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DOI

10.25777/y8s6-yh06

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