Linked Stories, Connected Lives: The Lucky Ones as Short Story Cycle

This essay considers the thematic repercussions of the peculiar narrative and generic structure of The Lucky Ones as a collection of linked short stories. The form of the short story cycle allows Cusk to stage a variety of perspectives on parenthood and family life within one book. Moreover, the ten...

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Main Author: Elke D’HOKER
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA) 2013-06-01
Series:E-REA
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/erea/3230
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author Elke D’HOKER
author_facet Elke D’HOKER
author_sort Elke D’HOKER
collection DOAJ
description This essay considers the thematic repercussions of the peculiar narrative and generic structure of The Lucky Ones as a collection of linked short stories. The form of the short story cycle allows Cusk to stage a variety of perspectives on parenthood and family life within one book. Moreover, the tension between unity and fragmentation, which is characteristic of the form, serves to highlight the tension between individualism and connection or community in The Lucky Ones. Even though the protagonists remain bound within their own lives, families and stories they can be seen to yearn for connection and communion in the epiphanic moments that mark the singular stories. In the final part of the paper, I consider Cusk’s representation of contemporary community as a loose network of relations within the context of recent approaches to community in social theory and philosophy.
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language English
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publisher Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)
record_format Article
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spelling doaj-art-38a902b16e584d9ab1ff439a11488ca62025-01-09T12:54:09ZengLaboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)E-REA1638-17182013-06-0110210.4000/erea.3230Linked Stories, Connected Lives: The Lucky Ones as Short Story CycleElke D’HOKERThis essay considers the thematic repercussions of the peculiar narrative and generic structure of The Lucky Ones as a collection of linked short stories. The form of the short story cycle allows Cusk to stage a variety of perspectives on parenthood and family life within one book. Moreover, the tension between unity and fragmentation, which is characteristic of the form, serves to highlight the tension between individualism and connection or community in The Lucky Ones. Even though the protagonists remain bound within their own lives, families and stories they can be seen to yearn for connection and communion in the epiphanic moments that mark the singular stories. In the final part of the paper, I consider Cusk’s representation of contemporary community as a loose network of relations within the context of recent approaches to community in social theory and philosophy.https://journals.openedition.org/erea/3230modernismshort storygenderliterary genrescommunity
spellingShingle Elke D’HOKER
Linked Stories, Connected Lives: The Lucky Ones as Short Story Cycle
E-REA
modernism
short story
gender
literary genres
community
title Linked Stories, Connected Lives: The Lucky Ones as Short Story Cycle
title_full Linked Stories, Connected Lives: The Lucky Ones as Short Story Cycle
title_fullStr Linked Stories, Connected Lives: The Lucky Ones as Short Story Cycle
title_full_unstemmed Linked Stories, Connected Lives: The Lucky Ones as Short Story Cycle
title_short Linked Stories, Connected Lives: The Lucky Ones as Short Story Cycle
title_sort linked stories connected lives the lucky ones as short story cycle
topic modernism
short story
gender
literary genres
community
url https://journals.openedition.org/erea/3230
work_keys_str_mv AT elkedhoker linkedstoriesconnectedlivestheluckyonesasshortstorycycle