First Advisor

Diana Abu-Jaber

Date of Publication

2010

Document Type

Closed Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Creative Writing

Department

English

Language

English

Subjects

Women's colleges -- Virginia -- Fiction, College students -- Social life and customs -- Fiction

DOI

10.15760/etd.1210

Physical Description

1 online resource (iii, 126 p.)

Abstract

This collection of interwoven short stories revolves around a small Southern women's college and its inhabitants. Written in first-person from various perspectives, the stories combine, much like Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, to create a final cohesive work that is not quite a novel. Main characters include the gentle, introspective teenage son of a faculty member, the garrulous student with whom he is enamored, and her skeptic of a half-sister. One parallel narrative involves a search for self and story through music and musicians, the other via a campus ghost. The focus, as with Eudora Welty's Delta Wedding, is character-driven rather than plot-based. Shared experiences--an ice storm, a betrayal by college trustees--are viewed through multiple characters, leading to a decision each, though searching for connection, must make alone.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

This dissertation is only available to students, faculty and staff at PSU.

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/6825

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