Leavetakings

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This dissertation is a collection of lyric essays about northern sorrows and friendships. These are preceded by a Critical Introduction which offers a new theory of narration. The essays themselves are grounded regionally in coastal Alaska, grounded thematically in questions of departure and return, and grounded formally in a combination of research and reverie. The collection asks: what can the movement of coming and going reveal about place? About how a place calls to us? About heeding that call? By attending to repetitions and mundane movement over adventure, the essays in this dissertation suggest a northern narrative of anti-discovery.