Honors Thesis Archive

Author	Elizabeth Boyer
Title	Above, Below, and in Between: Colum McCann and the New York City Novel
Department	English
Advisors	Scot Hinson, Amy Livingstone, and Michael Mattison
Year	2014
Honors	University Honors
Full Text	View Thesis (257 KB)
Abstract	Colum McCann, an Irish writer transplanted to New York City, wrote two novels about the iconic American metropolis he now calls home. By reading these novels in sequence, similarities and differences of motifs, themes, and outcomes can be noted. This thesis presents an intriguing relationship these books written by the same author, about the same city. These distinctions consider Let the Great World Spin as a rewriting of This Side of Brightness. Even more interesting, these two novels stand in between a historic New York event: This Side of Brightness was written in 1998, while Let the Great World Spin was written in 2009; one before 9/11 and one after. Through examination of McCann's use of high and low, identity and association, and manipulation of time in This Side of Brightness and Let the Great World Spin, one can conclude that these two strikingly similar novels do not ultimately share outcomes. As two literary towers, these novels flush out two different understandings of a city. In exploration of the common motifs expounded upon in each, these novels can be evaluated as pre- and post-9/11 novels.