DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/4RWT-2K39
Defense Date
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
Clint McCown
Second Advisor
Susann Cokal
Third Advisor
Cristina Stanciu
Abstract
Of Two Minds is a work of fiction that includes short stories and a novel excerpt. The Fire We Wait By is set in 1986 in the fictional town of Boone Springs, Kentucky. The novel chronicles how a family navigates the aftermath of grief caused by their middle daughter’s disappearance. It includes elements of magical realism with chapters narrated by a ghost trapped in an abandoned coalmine. The novel strives to depict a complicated South--a region filled with legacies that it must grapple with but also a community rich in spirit that contains more outsiders than insiders, including immigrants, gay men, and mixed race couples. My short stories also combine literary fiction with the psychological and supernatural and often have an undercurrent of dark humor. My stories deal with female protagonists pulled in multiple directions as they struggle with what it means to be a woman and a mother.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-2-2016