Abstract

This thesis takes the form of a collection of short stories under the title The Ghost of Fort Dutch, And Other Stories. The stories are not connected to one-another by character or setting, and do not form a 'story cycle'. They are individual tales, taking place in a variety of settings from the mythic past to the present day to the distant future. Thematically, they are all sketches of isolated people grappling to reconcile their places in the world. The stories are concerned with exploring the ways in which people choose to perceive, or to invent, their individual visions of reality. The characters' journeys are often motivated by a recent personal loss. Although I would not label these stories 'speculative fiction', each does contain an element of the fantastic. Whether it's a curse of invisibility, a picture brought to life, or a broken time machine, they tend to use fantasy elements to raise the stakes of a situation and to untether the narrative from the comfort of reality. Fantastic elements can make a common situation seem fresh, and can act as potent metaphors for a story's thematic concerns. Fantasy also provides a rich soil for dark humour, genre-mixing, and experimental structures; in other words, these stories can address human concerns while yet remaining playful. That is, I believe, the most enduring role of fantastical storytelling in the modern literary landscape.