Date of Award

8-8-2017

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

English

First Advisor

Dr Beth Gylys

Second Advisor

Dr David Bottoms

Third Advisor

Dr Gina Caison

Abstract

Aeolian is a creative work of poetry in which coming out, self-discovery, identity through LGBTQ+ community, family pressures, romantic struggles, secrecy, and survival are explored through myth, poetic form, sense-of-place, and music. The work is divided into three sections like an art triptych with each section titled: Vinyl, Mixtape, and Music Download. The piece is a journey through the speaker’s self-discovery, and coming out, and the heady queer “underworld” of clubbing during the height of the AIDS epidemic. A tone of melancholy pervades the work as friends are lost to the AIDS epidemic, and a brother succumbs to the pressures of heteronormativity, and many struggle economic struggle in a changing economic and political landscape. Elements of music and Greek Mythology are employed, adding levels of metaphor, symbolism, and a connecting motif to the work.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/10447467

Available for download on Saturday, July 18, 2099

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