Creative Writing Commons^™

Somewhere Amongst The Ashes, Keith Rebec

All NMU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

SOMEWHERE AMONGST THE ASHES

By

Keith Rebec

This story collection explores how human beings deal with loss. Whether the loss stems from death, the loss of personal innocence, or the loss of love, the characters within are forced to make decisions that he or she wouldn't make if given the choice. Some of the characters, in an effort to prevent the same or a similar type of loss from reoccurring in their lives, desperately seek ways to avoid the issues altogether, which further complicates their troubles. Others, unbeknownst to their impending loss, must make split second decisions that ...

Roadside, Lea L. Downing

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Roadside deals with themes of self-discovery, transcendence, and the search for camaraderie in modern America. Many of the stories take place on or adjacent to the road: that eternal path of transience and transformation. Whether metaphorically or literally on the "roadside," many of the characters contained within are marginalized in their own lives and communities. It is through their grasping and searching for greater meaning in their lives that they come to gain understanding of their places in the world.

Edna St. Vincent Millay: Artisan Of Violent Feminine Agency, Carolina Galdiz

Senior Theses and Projects

For decades, scholars have understood Edna St Vincent Millay in two fairly distinctive patterns as either a classical romanticist or ephemeral rebel. This dual reputation has been crafted from the obvious presence of natural imagery, sexual dynamism, feminine voice, and romantic yearning in her work. What critics have failed to see in her poetry are the potent sinister undertones that claim violence as a means to power. I will argue that Millay narrates the gendered struggle that takes place in this violence, in order to ultimately assert feminine agency in the process of forming a cultural identity. Thus, rather than ...

Westernmost Bodies, Monica Helen Koenig

English Graduate Theses & Dissertations

Westernmost Bodies is a collection of poems orbiting themes of violence, memory, and desire playing out on a supremely haunted frontier. The various sections are structured by the narrative of death--the opening image of "two alpacas" represents the mirror image of femininity developed in the manuscript. One image of the women explored through the confines of the domestic home space and the other image interacting with wildness in a natural environment. Together, these images are in conversation through traditional lyric and methods of fragmentation. The fragments mimic the humming described in the first poem--an emotional resonance of a continuous narrative ...

Bring An Axe And Your Wildest Dreams: Post-Apocalyptic Desires, Science Distrust, And The De(Con)Struction Of A Zombie Story, Samantha Jo Long

English Graduate Theses & Dissertations

Observing the current popularity of the zombie narrative in American culture, this thesis explores the questions “why zombie?” and “why now?” through a combination of research and the creation of an original zombie story. Moving beyond existing criticism which argues that the zombie transforms to fit each generation’s specific fears, I argue that zombie movies, novels, and video games from George A. Romero-onwards continually speak to a distrust of science and scientific progress while additionally romanticizing the post-apocalyptic landscape. Consequently, the zombie’s unprecedented mainstream popularity over the last fifteen years could be read as symptomatic of this distrust ...

Berenike, Posthumous, Gena Goodman

English Graduate Theses & Dissertations

A collection of connected short stories, Berenike, Posthumous tells fictionalized accounts of an actual, active archaeological site in Egypt. Through interlocking modern and ancient retellings of history and myth, the dangers and pitfalls of recording history are explored via the travails of the archaeologists and those non-archaeologists attached to this Red Sea locale.

Travel Sized: A Collection Of Essays, Wendi L. Kozma

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Travel Sized: A Collection of Essays investigates the importance of memory and understanding the self in relation to one’s experiences with travel and food. It is the author’s contribution to the genre of creative nonfiction and explores themes of body, self-awareness and self-realization through events that shaped who she is, both personally and professionally. The collection houses eight essays—each focusing on space, the body, and exploration of memory to better understand one’s self. Subjects range from coming to terms with one’s size to appreciating one’s experiences both stateside and abroad. At the center of ...