Defense Date

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts

Department

English

First Advisor

Kathy Graber

Second Advisor

David Wojahn

Third Advisor

Rebecca Gibson

Fourth Advisor

Indira Sultanić

Abstract

Hard Magic interrogates how individual and communal suffering are transformed through acts of radical imagination. Folk songs, spells, and a mischievous djinn weave together echoes of the Bosnian civil war, the death of a father, and two lovers separated by the American immigration system. If memory is all we have to hold on to as history takes its own tail in its mouth, we are left with no choice but to create new paths in order to reclaim a future that has been stolen from us.

Comments

No part of this thesis may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purposes of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems.

Rights

© Matthew Schroeder

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

4-30-2026

Available for download on Monday, March 13, 2226

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