Date of Graduation

Summer 2013

Degree

Master of Arts in English

Department

English

Committee Chair

Wayne Blackmon

Abstract

The Kingdom Falls is a novel in eighteen chapters that occurs from the point of view of eighteen different characters within a medieval kingdom over the course of three days. Beginning from the perspective of a peasant and ending with the perspective of the king, the novel progresses through different viewpoints, ideas, and social constructs one perspective at a time. It examines morality, ethics, gender roles, masculinity, class distinctions, and social constructs through the lenses of characters as varied as a beggar on the street and the captain of the watch in an attempt to create a monomyth of the kingdom itself rather than any one central character. This deconstruction of the traditional monomyth comes with various other deconstructions. Preceding the novel is a critical introduction in which the author discusses the influence of Joseph Campbell's monomyth and Lubomir Dolezel's theory of possible worlds on the work, among other things.

Keywords

fiction, novel, point of view, ethics, morality, deconstruction

Subject Categories

English Language and Literature

Copyright

© Matt Kimberlin

Download

Campus Only

Share

COinS