Type

Text

Type

Thesis

Advisor

Walker, Lou Ann. | Walker, Lou Ann | Hegi, Ursula | Crocker, Ruth W.

Date

2017-08-01

Keywords

assisted suicide | Creative writing | end-of-life issues | euthanasia | magical realism | novel

Department

Department of Creative Writing and Literature.

Language

en_US

Source

This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree

Identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/11401/78342

Publisher

The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.

Format

application/pdf

Abstract

In the novel Sadie’s Passage, Fred and Sadie Devine have just finished their last supper together. The plan is for Fred to help his wife commit euthanasia, but something goes wrong. They wake to various states of consciousness and of being, not knowing if either is alive or dead and having no recollection of the events that put them there. Fred finds himself buried in the dirt—something he finds curious, and as a gardener, even comforting. He is certain he didn’t go through with the plan but as he ruminates on his whereabouts, the smell and taste of dirt strong in his mouth, he is not sure of anything. Sadie, meanwhile, wakes in their bed, not certain if she is among the dead or the living. All she knows is that her husband didn’t follow directions. As husband and wife try to make sense of their present states—a state identified only as the limen— the past emerges in surprising ways and both are forced to sort through the hurt that has left such a strong imprint on their lives. | 502 pages

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