pattieb
Thanks for my copy of this unusual book
I have started it and my question is, what was the impetus to write this book and why did the author choose this writing style?
is there a link to your Phd ?
The point of view came about as I listened to oral histories of women who lived in Los Alamos during WWII, which are available as a podcast from the Los Alamos Historical Society. I noticed that the women frequently moved from a first person point of view, "I came to Los Alamos by way of Chicago," to a first person plural position, "We all complained about the military." This move suggested to me the collective identity that is part of any small community, but also the tensions within that collectiveness. I decided on the point of view of The Wives of Los Alamos very early in my research and writing process because I found that this point of view, the “we”, was in accordance with what I saw reflected in the women's accounts of their own lives. It was also a useful strategy to explore the tensions of a small closed off community, of our public and private selves, and of the complicated moral and ethical problems that arose following the creation of the atomic bomb.
@pattieb, you asked for a link to my PhD—did you mean the PhD program? If so, here it is: www.du.edu/ahss/schools/english/creativewriting/.