The Gospel According to Felix Kiger: Selections from a Family Memoir
Date
2014-05-15
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MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa
Abstract
This thesis is composed of selections from a family memoir that serves three coinciding masters. First, it serves as familial oral history preservation, prompted by a coincidental meeting on an airplane, and probes the lives of my great grandfather, grandfather, and father. Much of the narrative is in third person, and is cultivated from research, personal interviews, and oral histories. Secondly, the memoir as first person narrative attempts to reconcile my own place in the legacy of the Kiger men before me. This is at times challenging because the men before me were born and raised in Grand Isle. I determine that I am of that place more than I realized, but at the same time, I am not of that place in consideration of the diversity of my experience and my avoidance of the alcoholism and womanizing that have plagued the men of my family. Lastly, this project is about place – most specifically Grand Isle, LA. The selections in the thesis exhibit the evolution of the fishing island – both culturally and physically, economically and civilly. Grand Isle’s relationship to South Louisiana is often similar to my own relationship to my family. She is of that place, but also not. The observations and narratives that support this determination reveal that multiculturalism is a culture in itself, deserving of celebration and preservation.
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Memoir, Oral history, Family, Grand Isle, Louisiana, Multiculturalism