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Doctoral Dissertation Announcement
Candidate: Peter James Geye
Degree of:
Doctor of Philosophy
Department: English
Title: You Will Come Safe from the Sea
Committee:
Dr. Jaimy Gordon, Chair
Dr. Richard Katrovas
Dr. Jon Adams
Dr. Peter Blickle
Date: Friday, January 25, 2008 2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
2302 Friedman Hall
Abstract:
Set against the Minnesota North Shore of Lake Superior, You Will Come Safe from the Sea examines the lives of Olaf and Noah Torr, a father and son whose long estrangement began after Olaf survived a shipwreck on Lake Superior. Thirty years after the wreck, Olaf is dying of cancer and has asked his son home to help him die. Over the course of two weeks in November, the protagonists learn each other’s lives and summon the courage to forgive. Multiple stories-within-the-story evolve, including the harrowing account of the wreck of the SS Ragnarok (Olaf’s ore boat), and Noah’s own struggle to make a life with an absent father and the help of his sagacious wife, whose own complications with infertility issues mark her husband’s life in ways he only fully understands as the reconciliation with his father takes shape.