The Gift of Doubt is a contemporary novel set in a rural coastal region of New Zealand, the far north. Two characters are juxtaposed in their concern for aspects of the community around them, most significantly in their concern for a young P addict. The novel is narrated in 3rd person (limited and subjective), present tense. It uses intertextuality, and ironic understatement as well a playful tone and construction, to explore an idealistic cast of mind that could easily seem outdated. The novel both aims to represent the world beyond the text as well as to construct a self-reflexive document in the form of inserted texts, allusions and conflicting world views ending with some devices that throw the whole narrative into question. The exegesis, placed intentionally at the end of the novel, will explore the link between my reading of postmodern theory and a possible new emphasis within my writing.
