Year of Award
2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Degree Name
Creative Writing (Fiction)
Department or School/College
Department of English
Committee Chair
Debra Magpie Earling
Committee Co-chair
Deirdre McNamer
Commitee Members
Phil Condon
Publisher
University of Montana
Subject Categories
Fiction
Abstract
My thesis, a novel titled The Republic of Catatonia, is a story of a broken family, and the one man trying to keep their legacy alive. An adrift academic named Miles Cata moves back to Northeastern Montana from New York City, when he learns about the death of his father. When he arrives, it turns out his father isn’t dead, and Miles soon learns of his father’s plan for building an autonomous micro-nation on the property of their Montana ranch. The novel is set in the '90s against the backdrop of the Bakken oil boom, and much of the second half deals with an oil company trying to run a pipeline through their property. Miles is then forced to take drastic measures in the fight to to preserve the country in his own backyard. Part sweeping family drama, part bizarro anti-western—think Cormac McCarthy meets the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup.
Recommended Citation
Queen, David Byron, "The Republic of Catatonia: a Novel" (2019). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 11422.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/11422
Included in
© Copyright 2019 David Byron Queen