Date of Award

8-2016

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts

Department

English

Program

Creative Writing (MFA)

First Advisor/Chairperson

Matthew Gavin Frank

Abstract

This collection of creative nonfiction essays weaves a journey through local history, genealogy, physical landscape, and personal memoir. The essays therein investigate the past through the lens of the present, and the present as informed by the past. Written from a first person perspective, many of the essays directly address individuals or time periods long gone, while all of them are constructed with the memory, research, and imagination of the author.

Though this collection is rooted in history, it also relies on the metaphysical to create a vision of the past. Intangible themes—life, death, a farewell to things and people as they once materially existed (aligned with their recreation in the present through memory)—are explored by way of speculation, supposition, and hope. The author has sought to find, and hold tightly to, the delicate, unsevered thread that connects us back through the ages.

Access Type

Open Access

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Included in

Nonfiction Commons

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