“You never know the connections between things, people, places, ideas. But there are connections” (100) Good morning everyone! It is a privilege to speak to you today about the prominence of positive psychology in my latest novel, The Street Sweeper. Now, as I am sure you are aware, I am no psychologist and will admit that my focus in The Street Sweeper is society’s interconnectedness with history, not so much ensuring characters start the day off with a smile. However, I do base my characters on true historical figures who experience some form of loss or isolation: Adam Zignelik, one of my main protagonists, is a historian in the middle of a midlife crisis, meanwhile Rosa Rabinowicz is an independent, Jewish woman imprisoned at Auschwitz.
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Whilst my themes in The Street Sweeper tend to target the “inalienable dignity of the individual” and their battle against society, for Adam, overcoming internal conflict and reconciling his past is key to appreciating positive psychology. My parents divorced when I was young and I translated this loss of connection into Adam’s characterisation. Despite Adam’s longing desperation for his father, they can never be together and this potent sense of loss is portrayed through frequent analepses, from which Adam awakes “exhausted...gasping for air” (46), justifying Adam’s pessimism: his relationship with Diana “cannot survive him losing his job” (85). Thus, my explicit foreshadowing that “in a couple of weeks they would be separated” (46), anticipates the outcome which, ironically, magnifies Adam’s desolation and the reader’s investment in his relationship. The control of ellipsis and questioning during Adam’s “ongoing...almost hallucinatory conversation” (316) with Diana, combined with memories stirred by the recurring symbol of Diana’s comb, amplifies Adam’s internal conflict and regret for “every flaw, every mistake” (253) he has made. Like so many people in today’s society, Adam is an island: “armed with ignorance” (129) and convinced there is no hope of reaching
Whilst my themes in The Street Sweeper tend to target the “inalienable dignity of the individual” and their battle against society, for Adam, overcoming internal conflict and reconciling his past is key to appreciating positive psychology. My parents divorced when I was young and I translated this loss of connection into Adam’s characterisation. Despite Adam’s longing desperation for his father, they can never be together and this potent sense of loss is portrayed through frequent analepses, from which Adam awakes “exhausted...gasping for air” (46), justifying Adam’s pessimism: his relationship with Diana “cannot survive him losing his job” (85). Thus, my explicit foreshadowing that “in a couple of weeks they would be separated” (46), anticipates the outcome which, ironically, magnifies Adam’s desolation and the reader’s investment in his relationship. The control of ellipsis and questioning during Adam’s “ongoing...almost hallucinatory conversation” (316) with Diana, combined with memories stirred by the recurring symbol of Diana’s comb, amplifies Adam’s internal conflict and regret for “every flaw, every mistake” (253) he has made. Like so many people in today’s society, Adam is an island: “armed with ignorance” (129) and convinced there is no hope of reaching