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Gibbons 2012.Pdf (854.1Kb) School of Media, Communication and Creative Arts “A Bag, A Beret and a Book of Poems”: A Verse Novel & An Exploration of Generic Hybridity: An Exegesis Maureen Gibbons This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Creative Arts of Curtin University June 2012 Declaration To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgement has been made. This thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. ______________________________ Maureen Gibbons ___________________ Date 2 Acknowledgments I would like to thank the following people, without whose help this thesis could never have been accomplished. First, to my principal supervisor, Dr Julienne van Loon, for her unparalleled belief in my ability to bring the creative component of this work to fruition; for her honesty, humour, scholarship and commitment to a collaborative working relationship. Heartfelt thanks also to Dr Ann McGuire, for her intellectual enthusiasm and sensitive guidance throughout all aspects of the theoretical inquiry underpinning the creative proJect. I am privileged to have such professional and respectful supervisors who have guided and challenged me throughout and shown me compassionate support. Sincere thanks to my late husband whose support and belief in my ability to be successful in anything I set out to do still inspires me. I am also extremely grateful to my family for their constant support, their respectful attitudes and their understanding of my commitment to study and writing. My sincere thanks to close friends who have been there with editorial advice or an encouraging word when needed. I would also like to recognise all the nurturing alliances that have occurred throughout this proJect. I acknowledge, with gratitude and appreciation, the institutional and financial support facilitated by Curtin University, which has enabled me to complete this proJect. 3 Abstract This thesis provides two responses to a single question: one in the form of a major work of creative writing and the other in the form of an exegesis. The research question is: How can contemporary generic strategies best be utilised to represent the life and death of a real marginalised figure? The creative work is titled A Bag, A Beret and a Book of Poems. It deploys the concept of the silhouette biography, with its reliance on contextual detail to build the sense of a real life, in conjunction with the form of the verse novel, to construct an imagined life narrative for a homeless woman whose body was found in Kings Park in November 2001. The verse novel draws on contextual evidence such as police reports and newspaper accounts, and supplements that evidence with fictionalised interviews and invented characters. A Bag, A Beret and a Book of Poems is focalised mainly from the point of view of Patsy, an estranged friend of the dead woman, who arrives in Perth many months after the death and seeks to make sense of what appears to be a murder case. The narrative interrogates, via Patsy’s Journey, the complex social and cultural meanings of the site of Kings Park, and the paradoxical position of the homeless woman in a contemporary urban setting. It is ultimately a multi-generic work that seeks to open up, rather than close off, discussion around a real, marginalised figure. The exegesis addresses the research question by outlining and analysing the reading that informed the generic decisions made in relation to the creative proJect. Chapter One provides an overview of the evolution of the genre of biography, with an emphasis on its postmodern forms. Chapter Two gives an account of research into, the discursive construction of ‘the homeless,’ into theories of space, place and social displacement, and into the issue of voice and focalisation in relation to those ideas. Chapter Three presents close readings of three texts that offer generic models for the representation of the real figure at the centre of the creative proJect. Michael Ondaatje’s Coming Through Slaughter is analysed for its use of the devices of silhouette biography, Jordie Albiston’s The Hanging of Jean Lee provides an example of a verse novel that develops the life story of a real Australian woman, while 4 Dorothy Porter’s El Dorado suggests ways in which the strategies of contemporary popular fiction might appeal to potential readers. 5 Table of Contents Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 4 A BAG, A BERET AND A BOOK OF POEMS ................................................................................. 9 Section One ............................................................................................................................. 10 Butter Lady’s Final Journey ................................................................................................. 11 The Amber Rose Guest House ............................................................................................. 12 Across Time - Nepal (1966) ................................................................................................. 13 Across Time - DarJeeling (1966) .......................................................................................... 14 Kings Park ............................................................................................................................ 15 Ding Dong Bell ..................................................................................................................... 16 Into the City ......................................................................................................................... 17 Floral Clock .......................................................................................................................... 18 Departure Point ................................................................................................................... 19 Observations ....................................................................................................................... 22 (Alexander Library) .............................................................................................................. 22 The Player: Reuben ............................................................................................................. 23 Section Two ............................................................................................................................. 24 An Artist’s Impression ......................................................................................................... 25 Dior eau savauge ................................................................................................................. 26 Coming Home ...................................................................................................................... 28 Telephone Conversation with Detective Rob Moore .......................................................... 29 Aunt Ada & Gustav .............................................................................................................. 30 Losing Her Grip .................................................................................................................... 32 Childhood Byte .................................................................................................................... 34 Coroner’s Court of Western Australia ................................................................................. 35 Joshua’s Lead ...................................................................................................................... 37 6 She Said Good Morning Once ............................................................................................. 38 Jewelled Blinkers ................................................................................................................. 39 Sounds Like “Nutters” ......................................................................................................... 40 Offerings .............................................................................................................................. 42 Night Ladling ....................................................................................................................... 43 Eyes on the Camera ............................................................................................................. 44 Close to Her Chest ............................................................................................................... 46 That Fine Line ...................................................................................................................... 47 Voices from the Shower ...................................................................................................... 48 Crazy Woman ...................................................................................................................... 49 It’s Time ............................................................................................................................... 51 Spinning ............................................................................................................................... 52 Check-Out Chick .................................................................................................................
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