Amalgamation: A collection of poetry, prose, and process

Author

Grant Andrew Riedel, University of Northern Iowa

Availability

Thesis (UNI Access Only)

Abstract

It is obvious that definitions exist to aid in identification, yet it is harder to maintain exact descriptions in the world of the subjective. Whether it is the interpretation of a story’s narrative structure or of a painting, who can say they truly have the definite understanding? Furthermore, why should these different art forms be segregated from one another? This thesis might not answer these questions but it is concerned with challenging how creative writing is viewed as an art form by exhibiting experimental short fiction and poetry. Part of this thesis aims to alter the viewer’s perception of creative writing as art. This section of the thesis enacts questions that have no concrete answers because they rely on the spectator’s interaction. The pieces, the “One Shots”, are incomplete and operate to exhibit the art found in process. Other pieces, the “Box Poems”, deal with the blending of the visual arts and the art of poetry and prose in order to create pieces that are more interactive. In general, these sections are meant to engage a dialogue between the art and spectator. This thesis contains work that falls into established conventions of creative poetry and prose, too. There are traditional short stories and poems. The short fiction in this section tells the stories of everyday, mundane people. They are not as experimental as the other pieces in this collection but they speak to the creativity within the confines of established forms. The first three poems are written in this manner, too, containing manipulations of the Cento and Villanelle. This thesis is entitled “Amalgamation” because it is the combination of the visual and the literal, of the experimental and the traditional. It was constructed thus in hopes of communicating my own personal views concerning art and in hopes of inviting others to question how they view creative writing as art form.

Year of Submission

2014

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Languages and Literatures

First Advisor

Jeremy Schraffenberger

Comments

Six poems and ten stories

Date Original

2014

Object Description

1 PDF file (iv, 82 pages)

Copyright

©2014 Grant Andrew Riedel

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Riedel, Grant Andrew, "Amalgamation: A collection of poetry, prose, and process" (2014). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 93.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/93