The valiant struggle: a study of the short stories of Sinclair Ross

Moores, Wallace Byron (1977) The valiant struggle: a study of the short stories of Sinclair Ross. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (27MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

This study examines in detail a neglected area of Canadian writing, the short story, and a neglected aspect of the art of Sinclair Ross. The focus of this study is not on the links between Ross's stories and novels, but on the stories themselves as together forming an independent imaginative unit. The stories are linked to each other by recurring symbols, characters, narrative patterns and themes. -- Chapter One analyzes Ross's most poetic and optimistic stories. The universal tension of innocence and experience is the recurring theme of these stories and is presented through the narrative pattern of youthful conflict with monotonous reality. Chapter One traces Ross's gradual mastery of this single pattern. -- Chapter Two concentrates on what are, as a whole, Ross's weakest stories. Excessively concerned with eccentric and obsessive characters, most of these stories do not embody Ross's typical balance of the elements of action, character and meaning. These tales of the misfit represent, with one notable exception, a gloomy but rather shallow view of life. -- The third and final chapter is a study of those stories which are among Ross's most well-known. These stories articulate dramatically the theme of life as a cycle of struggle and disappointment. In his stories of adults in conflict, Ross creates exciting, compassionate and richly symbolic statements of human endurance. It is these stories which are a culmination of Ross's continuing interest in the human struggle. Several of these stories are so accomplished as to fully justify Ross's reputation as a master of this genre.

Actions (login required)

View Item