Date of Last Revision

2023-05-02 23:40:40

Major

English

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Date of Expected Graduation

Spring 2017

Abstract

This project presents two distinct pieces of short fiction, linked through intentional stylized language, grammatical patterns, and a sectionalized narrative structure. Each individual piece of short fiction functions independently – as separate and distinct from the other, with no explicit connection in content (i.e. recurring characters, parallel timelines etc.). However, each narrative also displays a kind of complex interaction with the other, each crafted to produce, when read alongside one another, a shared indistinct aesthetic and emotional experience. This aesthetic and emotional experience is crafted, specifically, by the use of stylized verbs, the em-dash, and alternating dialogue-based and image-based sections. These language based tools, when examined in a critical analysis, reveal a deeper underlying connection to queerness, terror, and personal identity present within the stories themselves. Furthermore, through a complex breakdown and critical and personal analysis of theses works, the work of Truman Capote is also analyzed and discussed in relation to both the structural/mechanical and aesthetic/emotional elements of this work. In particular, Capote’s crafting of a complex relationship between queerness, terror, and identity both in his short story “Miriam,” and within a larger cultural context, is revealed, through analysis, to have deeply influenced the work presented here.

Research Sponsor

Dr. Heather Braun

First Reader

Dr. Mary Biddinger

Second Reader

Dr. Jon Miller

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