Saving Alicia

Abstract

Saving Alicia is a creative thesis written to explore the possibility of incorporating some non-fictional concepts of neurophysiology into a work of fiction. The initial component presents the historical and contemporary context in which such a work is written along with an analysis of the writing techniques employed by other writers in the field. It sets out the aim of the subsequent creative composition. The second, and major, component of this thesis is a work of fiction. A story is developed in which the protagonist, a young woman, revives her deceased mother’s neurophysiological research work in the hope that it will help her brain-damaged niece, Alicia, recover. For this she is dependent on two men who were her mother’s colleagues. As they compete for her attention, while pursuing their own conflicting goals, the protagonist maintains her determination to keep her mother’s work going. She has no prior knowledge of neurophysiology and, so that she can understand the research, she is keen to learn some of its basic concepts. Woven through the story of Saving Alicia are descriptions of neurons and their physiology. This is presented to the protagonist through the mouths of the two researchers. In this way, the non-fiction is interspersed with the fiction.

Date of Award	1999
Original language	English