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dc.contributor.advisorHazzard, Oli
dc.contributor.authorBerry, Elizabeth Kathryn
dc.coverage.spatial75en_US
dc.date.accessioned2023-08-14T08:33:58Z
dc.date.available2023-08-14T08:33:58Z
dc.date.issued2023-11-28
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/28160
dc.description.abstractA novel fully contained in eight chapters, Blowing Smoke tells the story of Grace, who is home for the summer between her first and second year studying Environmental Science at a state university in California. Grace is struggling with a transitional period in her life: her parents are recently divorced and her father is getting remarried, she is experiencing heartbreak for the first time, her younger sister is rebellious and has potential substance abuse issues, and her mother is distant and has an eating disorder. Through the summer, Grace grapples with her sexuality, spends time with her sister, and prepares for a fated week as a freshman orientation leader. Despite the devastation she has seen in the world, between the way her father treated their family and what she knows about the ugly state of the environment, she wonders if she can or should move past what she’s experienced and lead a happy life. Blowing Smoke’s chapter titles are taken from the United Nations’ list of Causes and Effects of Climate Change. In addition to highlighting the story’s backdrop of California’s degrading natural environment, the table of contents mimics an Environmental Science textbook much like the ones Grace uses in the college courses which haunt her. The circumstances of the world Grace grows up in mean that her relationship with the environment and its health is not always linear. Just as often as she experiences grief, hurt, anxiety, and paranoia in tandem with the planet, she experiences joy, euphoria, and power in the wake of environmental destruction. Though Grace’s inner world, Blowing Smoke examines the increasingly fraught relationship between the health of our climate and personal gain or comfort. Her journey through June, July, and August illustrates the uniquely confusing experience of coming of age on a dying planet.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/*
dc.subjectEnvironmental fictionen_US
dc.subjectComing-of-ageen_US
dc.subjectLGBTQ+en_US
dc.subjectCaliforniaen_US
dc.subjectClimate changeen_US
dc.subject.lccPR6102.E8B6
dc.subject.lcshEcofiction.en
dc.subject.lcshBildungsromansen
dc.subject.lcshClimatic changes--Fictionen
dc.titleBlowing smokeen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.qualificationlevelMastersen_US
dc.type.qualificationnameMFA Master of Fine Artsen_US
dc.publisher.institutionThe University of St Andrewsen_US
dc.rights.embargodate2028-07-19
dc.rights.embargoreasonThesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Restricted until 19th July 2028en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.17630/sta/578


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    Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
    Except where otherwise noted within the work, this item's licence for re-use is described as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International