Date of Award
1-1-2016
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
M.F.A. in Creative Writing
Department
English
First Advisor
Ann Fisher-Wirth
Second Advisor
Daniel Stout
Third Advisor
Derrick Harriell
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
I Live Peacefully in a Video Game World occupies impersonal or passive forums such as comments sections, strategy guides, and video game patch notes in order to investigate the intimacy found within them. While conceptual poets have long explored hyper-contemporary communication ranging from spam emails to online reviews for Hollywood movies, these conceptual poets have often allothemselves to be constrained by their devotion to faithfully transcribing documents. The sections of this manuscript, then, are creative reimaginings of Youtube comments sections, strategy guides, and video game patch notes instead of precise transcriptions. This mixture of conceptual poetry and Prufrokian neurosis allow for an intense but sincere investigation of modern intimacy and antisocial behavior. The manuscript is mostly humorous but often with a political undertone. In I Live Peacefully in a Video Game World, it is hard to differentiate the innocent from the ominous. To live peacefully in a video game world is an act of futility given the violence and sexism of the modern video game industry. The poems of this collection, then, fight for stability in an inherently unstable universe.
Recommended Citation
Ardis, James, "I Live Peacefully in a Video Game World- Collected Poems" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1248.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1248