Book I of Wedgewood tells the story of two generations of women struggling to define themselves as individuals within the boundaries of a sometimes abusive, strongly patriarchal family. This first half of the novel exposes the distinct and powerful ways that women use language to recall and narrate the past through performative narrative strategies, and it navigates these complex familial relationships through its remote, distinctly Canadian setting, and themes. The first chapter of the exegesis analyses the intersection of memory, identity and trauma in the family. Various narratological interpretations of inherited memory are explored in the context of a patriarchal family dynamic. John McGahern's Amongst Women and Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping are approached in terms of the representational strategies they employ to engage with and illuminate theories of inherited memory, domestic trauma, and the patriarchal family dynamic. Insight into how these texts compare and contrast with my own writing are considered throughout. Chapter Two analyses the formal and structural outcomes of my approach to Wedgewood. My analysis draws on elements of Frank O'Connor's writings on the short story and Alberto Moravia's writings on novel and short story ideologies. Bernhard Schlink's novel, The Reader, and Donna Tartt's novel, The Goldfinch are explored in terms of their uses of voice and tense, and their capacity to self-consciously represent memory in fiction. Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad is discussed in terms of its categorisation as a story cycle, and its influence on Wedgewood's form and structure. Chapter Three builds on the discussion of memory, trauma, and family by analysing their narratological implications through a gendered lens. The subjugation and marginalisation of female voices and narratives within the family are explored against the backdrop of the current socio-political climate. Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of the dialogic figures prominently in the discussion about the novel's 'polyvocality' and its influence on my own writing. The fourth chapter approaches many of the key ideas and methodologies outlined thus far by engaging with notions of 'life writing,' and provides an in-depth reflection on the writing process, including Wedgewood's varied uses of lived experience and family history, and its formal progression from a short story to a novel.

Master of Arts / English / Daniel A. Hoyt / This project is the first portion of the novel Leper Kings. Frank Nash, a bank robber and historical figure from the jazz age Midwest, is struggling to launch his criminal career and find his place in history. A series of his confidants and cronies records his attempts to gain money and notoriety through violence, only to find that Nash has the uncanny ability to propel them forward through time and into visions of the American future through a carefully manipulated series of robberies, assaults, and murders. Nash, aware that he is destined to die in the Kansas City Union Station Massacre of 1933, desperately seeks ways to launch his associates Lucas Mooney and Vernon Miller further into the future, beyond Nash’s death, to experience and catalogue violent events that press increasingly into our present age. As their methods of soothsaying become gradually more reprehensible, Miller and Mooney question their chrono-magical project and find that their volatile leader and prophet, Frank Nash, is slowly and steadily losing his hold on the present reality and those in it.

Creative Writing

No description available.

The following master's thesis includes three stories. These stories are fiction and any resemblance to real people is not intended. The stories range from coming of age tales to cultural satire. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2006. / Date of Defense: February 27, 2006. / Short Stories, Fiction / Includes bibliographical references. / Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Professor Directing Thesis; Julianna Baggott, Committee Member; Mark Winegardner, Committee Member.

My theis is a collection of five stories, centered around the eponymous "What Is Visible," which title speaks for all of the work. Three are modern, hyperurban tales; one is set in 1850, and another is a road story. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2003. / Date of Defense: July 2, 2003. / Short Stories / Includes bibliographical references. / Robert Olen Butler, Professor Directing Thesis; Mark Winegardner, Committee Member; Janet Burroway, Committee Member.

Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the lock icon and filled out the appropriate web form. / Collection of poems / 2031-01-01T00:00:00Z

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Biblical literalism can be dangerous, especially when scriptural exegeses shape standards for social norms. According to the 2nd version of the biblical creation story of Adam and Eve for example, all of mankind must suffer for Genesis’s account of the choice of one woman. As many peoples have historically viewed this ancient story as fact, despite various changes, the ambiguous and often contradictory language of the text, and preconceptions stemming from philosophical interpretations, women have been regarded as inferior to man largely in part to Eve’s role in the story, or more specifically, man’s rationale of her role in the story. Similar to the role the Eve’s treatment plays in the description, man’s gift of “dominion” over nature has historically allowed for more destruction than stewardship. It is difficult to imagine, given the central role that trees play in not only the biblical creation, and The Fall, but also the redemption of mankind on the cross, that man’s subsequent and continual choice to dominate nature can have such little effect in comparison to the original sin. Using the events of the biblical Eden as a backstory for the plot of my 90,000 word novel, Fearest Enden, pivotal elements of the Edenic story were changed to paint Eve as hero rather than scapegoat. The novel follows Elias Hughes, a descendant of Eve who must rely on ancestrally endowed talents to stop the first earthly evil, Cain. Eve’s choice(s) are recognized as the main motif of Fearest Enden: sacrifice in the name of love and fear. As a secondary theme, as in Eden, the treatment of nature, and trees specifically has a direct impact on the spiritual and physical survival of the novel’s characters and their world. Part two of the thesis: Saviors, Scapegoats & Sacred Trees: A Critical Understanding & Reflection, examines more closely the underlying themes of the novel. Preceded by acknowledgements, an introduction to the title of Fearest Enden will analyze the central themes and clarify the novel’s title, meaning and history. The first critical argument focuses on Eve as savior and scapegoat. Examining both the ambiguity and literalism of early chapters in Genesis, I will argue that Eve was set up to fail because she was entered into a pact without her signature; that Adam was present when Eve spoke to the devil and that they partook of the fruit together; and that the only deceiving serpent(s) in this history, walked upright, contriving stories to defame Eve and women. I will argue that the choice, her choice, should have been defined a heroic sacrifice, making her the first and perhaps greatest human hero of all time and thus reversing, in a sense, the purported origins of original sin. The second argument is that fundamentalism and biblical literalism has led not only to man’s unjust ruling over women, but also over nature. The consequences of the latter must be both terrestrial and spiritual. Terrestrial, because the first and continued choice to take improper dominion over nature, like the original sin, is irreversible; spiritual, because trees play a central role in both the fall and redemption of the souls of mankind. Examining the sacredness as well as life-saving and life-ending properties of the trees in Eden and Golgotha, but also in a number of myths and stories from various cultures around the world, I will postulate the need to redefine “dominion” for the purpose of saving what earth man has left to steward. The final sections of the discussion will include influences, a conclusion, and bibliography.