Date of Award
2011-01-01
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts
Department
Creative Writing
Advisor(s)
Lex Williford
Abstract
Memory loss...Brain damage...Impaired adrenal glands...Life-saving?
Michelle Primeau's memoir, Left Behind in Telluride , follows the struggles of a young woman, who, at the age of 19 and recently diagnosed as bipolar, hitchhikes across the country after her road-trip during summer break from college leads into a drug-addled, 5,000-mile blur of on-ramps, Greyhound buses, U-Hauls, and trailer homes. Along the way, she wrestles with the jagged edges of her childhood memories, populated by a roster of delinquent children, molesters, drunken adults, and an irresponsible and egotistical father. She becomes a snowboarding bum and joins another college drop-out in stalking David Foster Wallace and eventually finds herself pregnant in the backwoods of upper Michigan. After having the baby and enduring a series of shock treatments ordered by a judge with the collusion of her mother, Michelle learns to have the will to live, marry in India, love, and survive as she must teach her two sons how to do the same.
Language
en
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
Copyright Date
2011
File Size
222 pages
File Format
application/pdf
Rights Holder
Michelle Lee Primeau
Recommended Citation
Primeau, Michelle Lee, "Left Behind in Telluride" (2011). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 2367.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/open_etd/2367
Included in
English Language and Literature Commons, Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons, Women's Studies Commons