This creative thesis includes a critical introduction that discusses a brief history
and definition of the creative nonfiction genre, the ethical dilemmas faced by the writer
when telling a true story, and contextualizes my work within contemporary creative
nonfiction. Locust Skin contains twenty-eight original pieces describing my experience
adjusting to life as a single mother. Narrative segments alternate with short prose poems
that add depth of feeling and a sense of wonder and beauty to contrast with the struggles
voiced in the narrative.
Through research and the study of works by authors such as Mary Karr, Terry
Tempest Williams and Norma Cantú, I was able to establish a framework for the creative
portion of the thesis. In writing the stories, I discovered the difficulty in negotiating an
effective balance between telling a true story while maintaining privacy for the real
people included in the narrative. Objectivity, avoiding sentimentality, and writing about
myself without producing an overly self-absorbed collection was also a struggle.
Overall, the collection contains short prose pieces that strive to reflect the precise poetic
prose of Karr's The Liar's Club, while combining human suffering with detailed
descriptions of nature illustrated by Williams' Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place in an unconventional form reminiscent of Norma Cantú's Canícula:
Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1295 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Poff, Terri Lynn |
| Contributors | Killingsworth, Jimmie |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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