Abstract

This thesis consists of three novellas linked thematically through setting and era, East Vancouver in the 1980s and early 1990s. "Midsummer" is an ironic romantic comedy, in which the happy ending is, on reflection, deeply problematic. "Ground Zero" is darker in tone, dealing with dissolution and disintegration. "Pesadilla Beach" involves memory and different generations in the same community. These stories are told through limited third person from the point of view of the young woman protagonist of each. While acknowledging the belief in the unified philosophical subject may now be essentially untenable, these stories none the less attempt consciously to present their heroines as subject. The heroines are active in creating and judging their own worlds, and have the skills needed to survive on at least a day-to-day basis in their communities; despite setbacks and failures, they are never victims. The stories are characterized by a clear and linear narrative structure, a strong sense of physical place, and dialogue which carries a great deal of the work of characterization. These stories are part of a project to develop a narrative form fitted to the subject matter, and as such are a process in development rather than a final style