Abstract

This creative writing thesis consists of a short novel, whose plot revolves around an attempt by three friends to establish a language school in northern Thailand. The story is told from the point of view of one of these characters, who is suffering from an unlabelled mental illness. Intertwined with the main thread of the narrative are two other major plot strands: the evolution of the relationship between the characters, and the narrator's attempt to self-diagnose his illness. Along the way, the novel indirectly touches on a number of themes, including issues of male homosociality (the dynamics of male bonding, the dialectic between competitiveness and compassion, etc.). It also draws attention to how new patterns of intercultural relationships are being made possible by the convergence of North American multiculturalism with the booming world market for English language education. These concerns remain relatively in the background, however. Thematically speaking, the story is first and foremost the recounting of an experience of mental illness and a depiction of how events and relationships are refracted through that experience.