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Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.), Xavier University, English, 2002.

Abstract

The title comes from the final short story in this collection, formerly published in Drought: An Online Literary Magazine. I hope to conjure the idea of new spaces for women by calling attention to the places my women characters inhabit in their individual existences. They are single mothers, grandmothers, women facing ill health, and young girls on the cusp of womanhood. Although each of these short stories can stand alone, they are tied together by themes that explore how place can act as both oppressor and liberator for my characters. I have arranged them in an order that might mimic the stages and places of a woman’s life. All of these women characters are unique in that they are each negotiating their own space and location journeys. But in organizing this, I noticed that the characters form a composite age trajectory. The collection begins with the young girl narrator of “The Forbidden Object of My Desire” and ends with a middle –aged character confronting her own mortality in “Conjuring Olympus”.

Subject Headings

Literature

Keywords

Short Stories; Women and Literature; Women Authors

Committee / Advisors

Jodi Wyett, PhD (Advisor)
Trudelle Thomas, PhD (Advisor)
Tyrone Williams, PhD (Committee Member)
Norman Finkelstein, PhD (Committee Member)

Pages

87p.

Document number: xavier1352667500
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=xavier1352667500

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