This is about an alligator and nothing else: writing fiction to creatively process grief and metabolize injury into art

Dempsey, A (2025) This is about an alligator and nothing else: writing fiction to creatively process grief and metabolize injury into art. PhD thesis, Bath Spa University. doi: 10.17870/bathspa.00017199

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Abstract

This thesis presents a coming-of-age novel, 'This is About an Alligator and Nothing Else', accompanied by a critical commentary that reflects on my writing journey while processing the sudden death of my father, David Dempsey. My artistic practice was driven by the question: How could writing a novel about bereavement help someone who is actively grieving? The novel was written in the year immediately following my father’s death, so the processes of grieving and writing unfolded simultaneously. The central aim of this thesis is to examine how crafting a fictional world, in which characters face both personal and ecological grief, can be a safe container to explore the intense emotions of death while sustaining a bond with a deceased loved one. The accompanying critical essay serves as a reflective piece, which I view as an 'unstitching' of my novel, a way of explaining my choices around setting, character, language, and narrative approach. My aim is not only to contribute to academic discourse but also to offer a more intimate, experiential perspective on how art can function as a powerful tool for processing grief. Chapter One delves into how I turned to art following my father’s death. Chapter Two discusses different theories about grief, reflecting on how they align and conflict with my personal and artistic experiences of mourning. Chapter Three focuses on my gravitation towards fiction and the unique possibilities this genre provided me as a grieving writer. Finally, Chapter Four examines how my identity as an adoptee and my home state of Florida shaped the evolution of my characters. This research is focused on my personal experience of grief and responding to my sorrow with writing, but there is potential for ongoing research that explores other creative arts practises and how they can benefit bereaved people and communities.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Note:	The document attached to this record is the contextualising research section of the thesis only. It does not include the creative component, which is the manuscript for the novel "This is About an Alligator and Nothing Else". This research was funded by the South, West & Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC).
Keywords:	PhD by Practice, creative writing, coming-of-age novels, grief in writing, bereavement, experiences of mourning, adoption, Florida
Divisions:	School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities
Date Deposited:	13 Aug 2025 15:27
Last Modified:	13 Aug 2025 15:37
URN:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17199

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