University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2014 The Prologue Past Raymond McKee University of Central Florida Part of the Creative Writing Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. STARS Citation McKee, Raymond, "The Prologue Past" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 4858. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/4858 THE PROLOGUE PAST by RAYMOND SHAWN MCKEE B.A. University of Central Florida, 2009 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2014 Major Professor: Jocelyn Bartkevicius © 2014 Raymond McKee ii ABSTRACT The Prologue Past is a collection of four essays and one novella which explore the past in different fashions. Memory, and the ability to reflect and find meaning in our experiences, is an important cornerstone of engaging the past. Decisions I’ve made, who I am, what I hope to become, and how recognizable or unrecognizable my past self is to the present are some of the mental fragments that ebb and flow throughout my consciousness on a near daily basis. What triggers these thoughts? I believe that memories—no matter how detrimental or pleasing, significant or forgettable—become a true anomaly of how our inner-consciousness operates or developments.