Counterfeiters

Brandon Rushton, University of South Carolina - Columbia

Abstract

This thesis is an examination of region. More specifically, it is about the physical and psychological landscapes these characters find themselves having to exist in. This book examines the liminality of the local; this is very much about thresholds. Rather than examining what exists beyond the threshold, this book considers the forces that drive us to one. This is a book about regional stasis and how, in some instances, stasis can transform itself into suppression. The enclosed environment of community can create this suppression, this contractive or almost gravitational hold the place has on the people who inhabit it. This is a suppression of forced routine and monotony and having to accept things for what they are. This is a suppression that views creativity as dangerous, this is a suppression that locates and identifies creativity with the intent to eradicate it. Ultimately, this examination of region creates a paradox of creativity; through its intended suppression it forces people to get more creative in order to find means of escape. I think this book traces the road of one kind of creativity, here its about the creation of chaos, an entropic environment intended to counterbalance the stasis felt by so many of the community members.