View/Open - University of Victoria

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Acknowledgements
Initial appreciation is directed towards the largesse displayed by SSHRC and various facets of
the University of Victoria. Such support enabled a timely completion of my degree program by keeping
certain earthly worries at bay.
Next I would like to offer a bouquet of quicksilver flowers shimmering with memories of
Enceladian ice plumes to Alice, Joanne, and Leanna in recognition of the patience they displayed in
answering my numerous questions while also listening to my mildly frantic, and ultimately unfounded,
prognostications.
With my extraterrestrial botanical budget precluding another interplanetary purchase, I have
only words to convey thanks to my thesis committee members, Dr. Daniel Bryant and Dr. Richard
King, and thesis supervisor, Dr. Tsung-Cheng Lin, for their guidance through the often turbid waters of
thesis writing. Specifically, Dr. Bryant's attention to linguistic precision and textual tradition was able
to steer my crew of scurvy scribblers around the many lurking krakens seeking to sink clarity of
expression. Dr. King's early comments on chapter five of my thesis also preempted a deeper muddiness
from clouding my trek across imagined frontiers. And when storms obscured lodestars and
constellations, Dr. Lin's extensive maps of rare poetic regions and uncommon theoretical realms was a
godsend I could not have done without.
Most of all, however, it was the material and emotional hull of my family which kept this
enterprise afloat when threatened by long spells of dolour and distress. The care and endurance you
displayed by never dismissing my worried blathering and monotonous moaning has made all present,
and future, gargantuan tasks appear quite manageable.
And to end, a gesture of gratitude towards Sir Doodlebug and Master Mittens for simplifying
the warm meaninglessness of it all through their stories of sacred somnolence and cedar-scented sleep.