Girl Talk: A Multi-Genre Coming of Age
Date of Graduation
Summer 2005
Degree
Master of Arts in Writing
Department
English
Committee Chair
Nancy Walker
Abstract
This thesis, a multi-genre collection of the writing I completed throughout my MA program, attempts to blur the boundaries of academic, creative, and personal writing, arguing by example that these forms can, as Jim Corder tells us, come toward and become one another. Additionally, this thesis explores how some of the fictional pieces included fit into the emerging genre dubbed chick lit, fiction from the tradition of Bridget Jones’ Diary and Sex in the City. What is unique about this new genre is that it can’t be codified or identified by singular characteristics, nor does it make the mistake that much American feminism has made by assuming there are essential characteristics that bind all women together. Instead, this genre acknowledges and highlights women’s differences, differences that I hope my disparate sampling of writing celebrates not only in its content but also in its composition of multiple forms of writing—all academic, creative, and personal.
Keywords
chick lit, creative nonfiction, postmodernist criticism, feminist literature, mixed-genre literature
Subject Categories
Creative Writing
Copyright
© Leslie Richardson
Recommended Citation
Richardson, Leslie, "Girl Talk: A Multi-Genre Coming of Age" (2005). MSU Graduate Theses. 2625.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/2625
Dissertation/Thesis