Boy Gothic and Other Stories

Abstract

[i]Boy Gothic and Other Stories[/i], by James Benjamin Storey, is a collection of short stories related by theme. Most of the stories follow the life of Sam, our main character, as he confronts and explores the modern condition--poverty, race, politics, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Perhaps the most important conflict is Sam's Ptolemaic struggle to overcome his father, a large man whose influence restricts Sam to the role of "perpetual boy." The thesis is organized in a morning, noon, night cycle corresponding to Sam's age. The collection is patterned after Hemingway's [i]In Our Time[/i] in the inclusion of short-shorts between longer stories. Other major influences include Faulkner, Joyce, Ellison, and Anderson. As an example of its writer's current development, the thesis includes works created throughout its author's graduate studies. The result is a collection that reflects the major literary movements of the 20th century.